Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Doncic Drops 32 as the Lakers Rout Nuggets 123-100

Starting point is 00:00:01 Hey, everyone, welcome to a special Locked-on Lakers for a Sunday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komeneski, Luca Donchich goes for 32 in Denver, and the Lakers win wire-to-wire. This one was fun. We'll break it down next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Lockedown Lakers. First listen to every day Monday through Friday and sometimes on Sundays, no matter how

Starting point is 00:00:37 where you get your podcast, this one's always free. Never Behind a Paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with 32,000 plus excited Lakers fans following a 123 100 wire-to-wire win for the Lakers in Denver. They slay the Nuggets Dragon, at least for one night. And Andy, we've wondered, we've said to ourselves, I wonder what it's going to look like when Luca feels comfortable and has like a really good game. We haven't seen that yet in the three to this point, as Luca works his way back into it. At some point, he was going to look like Luca, and then we wonder what it would look like for the Lakers, and we saw on Saturday, it was really cool. Yeah, the answer to that question is really effing good.

Starting point is 00:01:23 Like, the short answer to that question we were all pondering is really effing good. This was a game that the Lakers controlled from start to, To finish, they played extremely well on both sides of the ball. Like, we're going to get in some individuals. But from a team defense perspective, if you played minutes, significant minutes in this game, you were very good. Like, there was nobody out there defensively. And by the way, this includes Luca for all of the questions that surround him with defense.

Starting point is 00:02:02 If you played minutes in this game, you were very good defensively. And there was also too, as far as like moments that to me really signal like this was a game that the Lakers were not just going to win, but they were going to control it. The third quarter opened pretty disastrously. Denver went out on an 80 run in just under two minutes. It opened actually with Jamal Murray taking a technical free throw because Luca got hit with a T right as the first half expired. And the lead is down to one in just under two minutes. Lakers call timeout. LeBron ends up scoring quickly off, I believe, a baseline cut.

Starting point is 00:02:51 Then you get a couple baskets from Rui, a basket from Luca, some really good defensive play, disruption. And the Lakers are right back up to double digits. and it just felt to me in that moment. I don't care what happens from here. The Lakers are going to win this game because they are outplaying Denver. And given some of the history between these two teams recently, I think Denver was confused to see them get outplayed. You know, it's a brand new look.

Starting point is 00:03:23 I was about it. We can get into a little bit. Like I think, we'd even mention this. Like, you know, the matchup issues. to people say like, you don't want to play Denver in the first, just avoid Denver. I don't even sure you can look at that. The team is so different. And it's obviously, you know, Luca doesn't have the same Denver baggage, you know, DFS,

Starting point is 00:03:46 you guys like that, they're coming about that during the game. I think that is so incredibly important. And so, you know, but like it starts like, you know, this was the game where you could see the potential of what the Lakers could look like, particularly offensively. The fact that they held Denver to 100 points, third straight game where they're basically averaging their opinion, I realize they didn't look good against Charlotte.

Starting point is 00:04:09 You know, the Portland game made people more nervous than it than, you know, it should have at least initially after the first quarter. There's three games in a row where you're basically averaging 100 points allowed against three different teams. So you're playing good defense. But, you know, Luca, a comfortable Luca Donchich, and he went for 32 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists,

Starting point is 00:04:30 was played a lot of this game with a big smile on his face. Like he looked happy, he looked comfortable, he looked excited at the matchup and the opportunity to kind of contribute to a big win on the road. He made it to the line eight times.

Starting point is 00:04:43 He had four of his nine threes. Like this was the worst deals, just one turnover. This was the Luke of the Lakers as a team only turned the ball over eight times. So like they had a great night taking care of the ball. That was a huge difference between

Starting point is 00:04:58 this game, Saturday and what they had been doing to this point out of the All-Star break. But when Luca is Luca, it's like, oh, okay, now LeBron, 25 points, nine rebounds, five assists, again, only one turnover. You see AR, 23 points. He had seven assists. The amount of shot creation the Lakers were able to get in this game was phenomenal. Like they had clean looks all over the floor.

Starting point is 00:05:33 The three-point shooting in this game was a little bit better than it had been particularly early. The Lakers were hitting threes to help build out this lead, hit some critical threes to help build it out again. And it's just like that was the, oh, okay, here. It's like not that you didn't know it and you got to be patient and all that. But like this was what it was supposed to look like and theoretically could look like going forward where it didn't feel like Luca and LeBron and AR were sort of on separate islands. Everything felt very connected. They were moving the ball to each other.

Starting point is 00:06:14 There was just there was a nice flow and energy to everything they were doing. But it started with if you put Luca Donchich on the floor now with LeBron James. that's not guardable. And guys move and they make themselves available and they go to the right spots on the floor. That's not guardable because those two have the vision that goes beyond anybody else in the league, really. And then you throw Reeves into the mix for something like that.

Starting point is 00:06:43 It's just, it shouldn't be fair, which was, I think, the idea behind making the trade in the first place. This was as synergized as we've seen Luca and LeBron since this trade. happened, as it turns out, by the way, because we've been hearing a lot in the comments section, we've been hearing a lot on Twitter, certainly seeing the national conversation, certainly been hearing from a lot of, if not Mavericks fans, because Mavericks fans were certainly

Starting point is 00:07:11 really angry about the Lucre to begin with, certainly a lot of people enjoying purple and gold, Schadenfreude. As it turns out, three games might have been premature to declare Luca washed damaged goods upon becoming a Laker. Might have needed to let that thing marinate a little bit longer. But the LeBron and Luca Synergy and then the way you put Austin into that mix, the three of them just seemed much more on the same page, like more under control with each other. I also want to make sure to shout out Rui because this is, I think, one of the best games Rui had all season. And it's ironic, he had no rebounds in this game. We've talked all the time about wanting to see Rui rebound more.

Starting point is 00:08:00 But 21 points, four assists, some terrific defense. Like he was often the guy charged with at least starting out possessions, single covering, yokech did a very good job with it. The Lakers tonight were, and, you know, LeBron did some of that single coverage as well. But the Lakers tonight. I just not to, I don't want to like argue with you, but it wasn't,

Starting point is 00:08:26 they, they used the sort of the town's blueprint that they used against. That's what I was about to say. Yeah, like a couple, a couple weeks ago where it was like your guard, and this is, I think if you're looking for something,

Starting point is 00:08:38 it feels sort of sustainable, like it would be nice that the Lakers had more center. because behind Jackson Hayes, who has, you know, I am not here to, you know, he's done, he's played better than, than I expected him to. I did a nice game. He played a nice game against Denver. You know, he is on a lot of teams kind of about, on this team, he actually kind of functions as a skill set wise as a decent, you know, starting option because you don't need a lot out of your center. But like, you wish there was more at this position. I think that is not an unreasonable thing to say.

Starting point is 00:09:13 But the Lakers have shown that they have a blueprint that they can deploy against bigger players, against Carl Anthony Towns, against Nikola Yokic and all this stuff, and make life difficult for those players. And for Yokic, they really limited his scoring. They really limited his ability to shoot. They actually like shoot and make it, like literally to take shots. I actually thought they limited his everything tonight. I realized he had a triple double, but this was a triple double. where he barely reached the qualifications in those three stat lines to get the triple double.

Starting point is 00:09:51 Like, you know, Luke, Yokic had 12 points on 2 of 7 shooting. Eight of his 12 points were at the line, 13 rebounds, 10 assists, but against six turnovers. It's weird to say it about a guy that had a triple double, but they reduced Yokic to about as much of a non-factual. as you can do to somebody like Nikola Yokic. And what I was going to say with as far as the single covering of Yokic that happened a lot with Rui, but also LeBron, a couple of the scattered guys, it was a combination of occasionally going just straight up one on one, keeping it honest and guarding everybody else. So Yokic had nowhere else to go or really well-timed double teams, everybody scrambling, recovering, and just forcing turnovers or just rotating around everywhere.

Starting point is 00:10:48 They did this extremely well, mixed up the looks, mixed up the timing of it all, and it flustered Yokic. Like, Yolkich was, again, it's weird. It's not often you say this, but Yokic was pretty ineffective in this game. It's a testament to two things, both how good he is, but also the central role that he plays in basically everything the Nuggets do. that you could look at him and say that was, you know, he had a triple double,

Starting point is 00:11:16 double. He was relatively limited. And I mean, Denver will, you know, let's say this is a playoff matchup. Denver's going to adjust to what they're doing and all that kind of stuff. But I think, you know, that is, that is a down the road kind of thing. The, the place that we're in right now is looking at, first of all, recovering the Charlotte win.

Starting point is 00:11:42 Like, you know, like, because I think a lot of people had this one down as like probably I probably going to lose this one and go to Denver and they're red hot haven't won there in a thousand years and all that kind of stuff well now they they they kind of clawed back a win that they that they maybe should have had before so standings wise this is an important win in that regard but it's it's just like they don't have a lot of time to find their best selves and And to go out and Redick after this game, speaking to the media, and we'll break after this and we'll come back. I know we normally do just one segment on a weekend show, but we'll do a quick break and we'll come back.

Starting point is 00:12:25 But like the way that Redick was talking about their ability to take in the game plan and execute the game plan, both from an effort standpoint. This is why we talked about how important the Portland game was, how hard they played in that game and like, grinded that thing. thing out because now they put the same effort out against Denver and played better and look at the result. You could tell Reddick felt like this was like a monumental leap in their kind of collective capacity to do stuff. And I want to get into that a little bit when we come back. Well, we'll just let people know to begin with. Lock on Lakers brought to you by DoorDash. NBA fans get ready. They swoosh. You save thanks to DoorDash every time a player drops 50 or more points in the game. You score a huge deal the next day. It's simple. When any player

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Starting point is 00:14:57 That's fandual.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul, the official sports book for sports betting partner, I should say, of the NBA. as long as we're on it and, you know, do us. We're giving you a second weekend segment. So give us a subscription to the Locked on Lakers newsletter. You go to LockdownDaily.com, click on Lockdowneckers and have a goodness like this delivered to you every single day. I just, you know, again, they're not going to, it may not work this well, Andy, as it did on Saturday every night between now and the end of the season.

Starting point is 00:15:33 But you just you have to you have to make these games as constructive as possible. And the collective defense that they played, playing without a center, you know, four steals from Luca. Luca, by the way, just looked 15% 20% quicker in everything that he did. You know, so, you know, you talked about how, especially in the Charlotte game, right? because he didn't play against Portland. The, the, just look slow. He looked sluggish.

Starting point is 00:16:07 He looked slow. He looked tired. This one, he did not. He looked, he had some pop, the, the, the baseline dribbling, all that stuff, getting into the paint, all that stuff. He had much more burst to what he was doing, and you could tell the difference. And so that, you know, what they were, and that same level of burst was all over the defensive side of the floor.

Starting point is 00:16:28 And they clearly executed. what they were supposed to be doing on every play. They did not get off of that throughout the game. And Reddick was like giddy after the game based on what they were able to do. Talking about how against Yokic, it really stands out the idea of you only have, the center rotation is one. Like tonight they did not play Trey Jemison or Christian Gloco was not even active. Like they went with Jackson Hayes or.

Starting point is 00:17:02 small Alex Lenn did not play in this game at all. And it stands out in a night where... You played garbage time. Right. I'm talking about actual minutes. Like, Jemison and Lenn did not play minutes other than like the last five or so of the game. Like when the game was actually being decided, those guys did not step on the court. And that was obviously a decision JJ decided to make.

Starting point is 00:17:27 And it really stands out when in theory you could choose to throw. try to try to throw more size at Denver. And JJ went in the opposite direction, opting instead to go with just, not just his best players, but his best defenders as well. Like the best defensive combinations, like it,

Starting point is 00:17:48 and even with someone like Jackson Hayes, and this is something I've talked a lot about over the last few weeks that I've really liked that JJ's done. I think Jackson Hayes is a more effective defender in space, further from the basket than he is around the lane. He can protect it, okay, sometimes, but I think he is often prone to fouls down there or getting pushed around.

Starting point is 00:18:12 And rather than try to make Hayes be the thing that he isn't, JJ has often been willing to play him in other spots around the court, let other guys rotate, be the low men, whatever, and just play to what he thinks will be the best overall version of the defense as opposed to being either didactic about this or, you know, worrying about you. You have to. A lot. Lakers went in Denver by 23 and all of a sudden you're tossing out words like didactic. Yeah, I'm sure none of the Nuggets fans will understand what I'm saying, but

Starting point is 00:18:47 bang! Like, God, I hope you use that correctly. I know I talk. I'm just saying. I'm pretty sure. I know. I'm pretty sure. I know I use it correctly. I'm pretty sure.

Starting point is 00:18:58 I could use it correctly. I know what didactic mean. and I'm definitely I definitely don't want to use it. But you're really hoping is they don't know. Well, I really don't want to use it incorrectly and talking about JJ Reddick because if he were here, Lord knows that guy would correct me if I was wrong. But like these are the things. Can I spell it?

Starting point is 00:19:17 Anthony D. just asked me in the chat. D-I-D-A-C-T-I-C, D-D-D-D-T-I-C, did use it in a sentence. So we're done now. But these are the things that I think. I intended to teach particularly in having moral instruction. as an ulterior motive in the manner of a teacher, particularly so as to treat someone in a patronizing way.

Starting point is 00:19:38 We'll roll the tape. But anyway, the point being, they, JJ, I think has recognized what this team is. And this is something we talked about a lot with both Darwin Ham and Frank Vogel down the stretch of their tenures with the Lakers, that they often tried to force the roster into what they wanted it to be as opposed to using the roster that you have. And I think JJ earlier in the season was a little more guilty of trying to play the style he wanted as opposed to the roster that he had. I think it helps that he is increasingly getting more of the roster that he would want. But these are things that we've seen JJ do over the course of the season, in particular like the last month or so that I think

Starting point is 00:20:29 have really paid off well. Yeah, and I, we'll quit here, but I, you know, beyond the just, it's just fun to watch. We've had a chance to watch, obviously, it's the Lakers. You know, you and I started covering the team, you know, going back as far as like, you know, shack. It's like we've seen a lot of stuff. And, you know, we're right there with the Kobe Pow teams. And we've seen that stuff happen. We were there for Vanderblu and we saw, you know, but then you see LeBron and like you get to watch LeBron James on a night in, night out basis. And you just realize with time, like you do become kind of numb to how good guys are in the level of production. Like when Kobe finished his run of 50 point games and like the one that broke the streak, I think

Starting point is 00:21:18 he went for like 34, something like that. And you're like, all right, well, just 34 for Kobe that night. Like, you just get so used to it. We have another opportunity. Oh, okay, we're going to watch Luca every night. And this is what that looks like. And it's, it's very, very cool. But to your point about playing the best players, and I think that's really what it is.

Starting point is 00:21:39 It's like you see sometimes in games mismatches. A center is being guarded by, you know, or a power forward is being guarded by a guard in the post. And it's not somebody you normally run your offense through, but you've got to take advantage of that. mismatch. So you start tilting your entire offense to try to take advantage of this. And now, meanwhile, you're not doing any of the other stuff that you normally do as a team. And the other team wins for baiting you with that mismatch. Jemison, Len, Lenn, guys like that are the equivalent of that

Starting point is 00:22:11 for the Lakers in a game like this. Because if you put them out on the floor, you're compromising your offense. You're not necessarily improving your defense, but you're just like, oh, we need to have a big person out here all the time. And the goal is to play your best players and figure out how to make them effective. And that's what they did. And that's what they've been doing. We will have a lot more to say about this game tomorrow for Monday show. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you go hang out with over 32,000 subscribers. Thank you to the thousand people who are watching this live show right now on a Saturday night. We certainly appreciate it. We'll see everyone after, I'm sorry, we'll see everybody Monday.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Doncic Drops 32 as the Lakers Rout Nuggets 123-100

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