Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Fouls Out, Comeback Falls Short, Lakers Lose 105-101 to Bucks

Episode Date: January 10, 2026

For most of the night, the Lakers looked like they weren't going to have a chance to win... then all of a sudden they not only had a chance, but found themselves up four with three minutes to play. From there, though, they couldn't extend the comeback. Giannis poked the ball away from LeBron James on the final trip, and the Lakers lose 105-101. It's the first clutch time loss of the year for the purple and gold, and it came largely because Luka Dončić had likely his worst game as a Laker, finishing 8-25 from the floor, and fouled out of the game for only the third time in his career. It was Luka's foul that put Porter Jr. on the line with a chance to win the game, and it became his sixth only because he picked up his fifth with two seconds left in the third quarter, on one of the worst fouls you'll ever see a player earn. The whole night was a struggle for 77. LeBron (26/9/10, plus three steals) did what he could to keep the team afloat, and the Lakers used good performances from guys like Jake LaRavia (13 points, two steals) and Jarred Vanderbilt (nine points, nine rebounds) and a whole lot of hustle from every player that took the floor. Ultimately, though, they dug too deep a hole to climb out of. It was bound to happen sometime, but it's nonetheless disapppointing to see the Lakers drop a game they were in position to win. Against the Spurs, a shorthanded Lakers team could lean into some of the positives that came from the game, even without winning. Friday, though, definitely counts as a big missed opportunity.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky  Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDONBetterhelpBetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist.Sign up and get 10% off at https://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away. Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://Quo.com/lockedonnba.Quo — no missed calls, no missed customers.  GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. 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.

Luke and Doncha just struggles and the Lakers drop a winnable game to Milwaukee. That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Lockdown Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how, sometimes on Saturdays, Andy, no matter how or where you get your podcast. Maybe you get it through Apple. Maybe you're a Spotify guy.

Maybe you're one of the 37,000 plus subscribers to the Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel. No matter how you do it, you are part of making the Locked-on podcast network, the number one sports podcast network in this or any other known universe. Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, talking to you Friday night after the Lakers drop a frustrating 105-101 game to the bucks. It's their first loss, Andy, in the clutch. And it comes on a game where the Lakers had to make a comeback. That part was good. But they actually went up by four with three minutes to go.

The game was tied with a minute to go. And Lakers, this time, could not hold on. It's a little different. I was comparing this to the San Antonio game. That one was like a game that they could have won. Like there were opportunities because San Antonio left the door open. but you kind of couldn't fault the result that much. This is a game that, you know, missing guys, whatever, Lakers should have won this game.

This was, if nothing else, a reminder that, you know, we've talked about before, then being undefeated to this point in clutch time was obviously it spoke well of their resolve and their willingness to fight during these games and their ability for a lot of, of the season to execute in the final five minutes when they needed to, but also we've pointed out, they've also had these clutch time wins. A lot of them have been against either sub-500 teams or 500-ish teams and that they've won all these games has not really been indicative of any ability to close in the clutch because they're a dominant team. And this is the first time that they have not lost by double digits.

And the point being, you can only not execute for so long before it eventually comes back to bite you in the ass in any context. And this game was really that reminder

of you can't pull it off forever. No, and the Lakers, you know, you use, you know, fight and resolve and things like. They sort of fought and resolved their way back into the game. Like, you know, they really did play quite hard after a really bad second quarter.

It was a really, really bad defensive second quarter to put them in a hole. The first quarter, I thought, was leading into that second quarter. I mean, the numbers got really bad in the second quarter into the third. And, you know, the Lakers kind of clawed their way back into the, this game and then just like you said they just didn't execute down the streets but the the requisite effort was there the execution was not because look i mean the lakers are going to have to rock fight their way to a lot of wins missing the level of offense that they are side note ruy hachemura the lakers hope uh j j jricks said lakers hope will be back in the lineup monday night in

sacramento still no word on on any kind of return for austin the the the defining characteristic of this game, the thing that people are going to look at was Luca. It was 8 of 25 from the floor. It was a terrible fifth foul that with two seconds left in the third quarter that really put him on his heels for the fourth. And then obviously fouls out in, you know, on that play that sent Michael Porter Jr. to the line. Kevin Porter, or Kevin Porter, Michael Porter, Kevin Porter Jr. to the line. And, you know, the Bucks take the lead. It was, it was, as far, I think, that's maybe somebody would argue with me.

It was, I think, Luca's worst game as a Laker. Oh, it was definitely his worst game as a Laker. I'm not enough of an expert on Luca's career in Dallas to know if this was the worst game of his career. It's certainly up there. It's one of three DQs he's had his entire season. 24 points on 8 of 25 shooting. He did have nine assists, but three turnovers. A couple of them were just bad decisions.

He also, he didn't get to the line as many times as he wanted, and that clearly was a big-time source of frustration for Luca from basically about halfway through the first quarter on after the game. And when he did get there, he didn't hit him. So, you know. say too he shot 50% from the line we didn't even capitalize on the too few free throw attempts in his mind he said after the game and to lucas credit he took responsibility for fouling out he's he clearly did not think that sixth foul was totally legit but he also said

the ref called it a foul foul he's like it's a three-pointer I can't do that he took I mean I when I first when I saw it in real time I thought Porter kind of sold it, took a dive, went crumpled down and all that kind of stuff. But you can't put yourself in that position. I think the Lakers would have lost that challenge. Had they challenged, I think they'd lost it. Well, they were out of challenges by that. I know. I'm saying had they been able to, they couldn't. But had they been able to, I think they would have lost the challenge. Yeah, he just, he couldn't put himself in that position, in that context with five fouls.

As you mentioned, that fifth was bad. Lucas said after the game that the lack of calls wasn't getting to him respectfully. I disagree. And certainly James Worthy and Robert Ory after the game both said he was clearly hunting for calls. And a lot of his, I wouldn't say his shot selection, but his style of shooting was very much clearly looking. for the calls. Yeah.

I don't mean to interrupt. I'm just saying it was also, too, he was four of six from three. It was a rare game where Luca was far more efficient from three than two. What's crazy is he started out looking like he was going to have an incredible game. The Lakers were up 10 to 7. Luca had scored or assisted on all 10 points. It started out looking fantastic.

It did. So four of six from three leaves him four of 19 from two. You know, again, some of that's foul hunting. or whatever, but like he was missing. He missed a layup in the third quarter or the way of this sort of Benny Hill sequence back and forth. To mean, Lakers, you know, kind of, you know, but they they hustled their way to what should have been easy points.

And Luca just absolutely smoked a layup. And I just think those types of plays over the course of night were starting to frustrate him in a big way. The refs compounded it. You could see he was kind of going back and forth between trying to get himself back, you know, into, you know, the groove of things, but also, and then, you know, trying to play his way back into doing something aggressive to make up for it. And, you know, you end up with that stupid fifth foul, which, you know, it doesn't, it wouldn't have,

the fifth foul, let's assuming it plays out the same way. It doesn't save the Lakers that foul on Porter. Like, Porter still would have gone to the line, but the difference is, Lakers would have had Luca on the floor for the last possession of the game. You know, kudos to the bucks. Yonisant de Kumpo made two outstanding defensive plays on LeBron on the last two Lakers possessions, want to block, want to steal. But that last possession, spoiling would have been a great game for LeBron.

And we'll talk about LeBron in the next segment. But it would have been a big deal for. the Lakers who needed a bucket to tie. They did not need a three because Porter only made two of three from the line. They only needed two and having Luca on the floor would have made a significant difference in how that last possession played out. Look, every superstar is entitled to a bad game. All the greats have played poorly before.

This is extremely out of character for Luca. I would not be particularly concerned about this being the start of a bad stretch. But that said, he just, he said himself, he was terrible all night. It's just was, he was clearly frustrated from about, I would say, five, six minutes into this game. And it never just got any better for him. It happens. It just happened to take place on a night where the Lakers couldn't overcome it. There were other things.

There was, we'll talk a little bit about the Rui parts and the continued resurgence of LeBron James. Next. We're going to let you know, though, that Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul. Fridays already feel different during basketball season. Fandul is making them even better every Friday night before the game's tip off. Fanduel gives fans a new way to kick off the weekend with NBA Happy Hour. NBA Happy Hour, your official pregame, a limited time window where special offers dropped right inside the Fandual app before the action starts.

Friday nights, 6 to 7.30 Eastern, they have become appointment viewing during NBA Happy Hour, opening the Fandual app during Happy Hour always brings something new, boosts, bonuses, surprises. It's easy to check the weekly special before tip off and make a move. before the window closes. So before tip off, check the Fandual app, see what's dropping during NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern, little basketball, little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy.

That's NBA happy hour, only on Fandual, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Locked on Lakers also brought to you by BetterHelp. As we roll into the new year, there's a lot of pressure to chase a new you. Sometimes it isn't about reinventing yourself, though. It's about feeling a little less weighed down in therapy, can help you understand what's been holding you back,

giving you an outside perspective on your emotions, motivations, relationships. That's why BetterHelp can be such a helpful place to start. The therapists fully licensed in the U.S., work under a strict code of conduct. They'll help you match with a therapist-based needs and preferences. So they're not doing all that legwork on your own. And I know for a lot of people, the biggest impediment to taking up therapy and getting that help is finding the therapist. So you get a lot of help from Better Help to do.

that if the match isn't right, you can switch to another therapist at any time. So BetterHelp has served over 5 million people with more than 30,000 therapists and live sessions average out a 4.9 of 5 rating across 1.7 million client reviews. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com slash Lockdown MBA. That's BetterHelp, BetterHELP.com slash Lockton MBA. I think what was frustrating for this one is, like I said, unlike, you know, like the San Antonio game, the Lakers working really hard down the stretch of this game. They did not work so hard, at least defensively, at other parts of the game.

But they certainly didn't quit on this game at all. You know, LeBron really, I think, picked them up on a night where Luca was obviously struggling. they do all this work and it was a lack of execution. Little mistakes. You know, guys missing assignments, the ball going in the wrong spot.

And, you know, there was a lot of that over the course of the night. You roll back the tape, even guys who played well, you can find two, three, four things. You'd be like, oh, what was that? Like, don't do that. I don't mind when the Lakers don't win games.

that they could but probably should, you know, toss up and they're against better teams. They're, this wasn't that. This was a chance. This was a game they were winning with three minutes left. And once you're winning a game with three minutes left, you figure out a way to win. And if you don't, it's going to be really frustrating.

And this one was 23 second chance points for the box, 50 points in the paint, 20 points off time. They were pushing pace a lot. I mentioned on Friday's regular show heading into this game that I talked with Camille Davis from Locked on Bucks about these sort of things that often cause issues for the Lakers. And she said these are not strengths of the Bucs, like even since Yonis has returned. And I asked her, you know, if the Bucs managed to thrive in these ways, do you think it'll end up saying more about the Lakers than the Bucks.

And she said, probably. And without taking anything or trying to take anything away from Milwaukee, it seems like Camille's analysis was correct. This is the way it felt to me. Like there was a lot of executional details that they just did not do well in this game. I look at it, you know, they are an offensively challenged team without Rui and Austin lineup. And so now you add to that, Luca having a tough game. And it's going to be very, you know, it's hard to know where the offense is going to come from.

Jake LaRavia, you know, he did his part. He was five of eight from the field, three of five from three point range, 13 points overall. Jared Vanderbilt was surprisingly effective inside. which is always. Vando had a really good. Really nice game. You know, he was active. He was disruptive.

He, again, finished inside, which is for all the time we spent talking about his, his three point shot in the corner three, which is cooled off a little bit. But, you know, he's got to be able to get an offensive rebound, put the ball back up and in. He did that a couple times on Friday. That was really good to see. You know, DeAndre Aiton very obviously suffers without. the sort of the full compliment of the offense.

He's just not a guy who is going to create his own offense. He was, you know, as good as he was against Janus in the first one, first game against the bucks, he was invisible in this one, four points, five rebounds, minus 13 in 24 minutes, a bad night for DeAndre. We've also, we've seen a trend. And obviously the Lakers and Aiton himself need to figure this out, hopefully not. much longer. Hopefully Rui will be available Monday versus Sacramento. But in this period without Rui, without Reeves, and then, you know, the times on the floor when it's just one of Luca or LeBron,

it's very clear defenses are like, we will take our chances with Marcus Smart, with Jake LaRavia, with Vando, Gabe, Dalton. What we're not going to do is allow you to set up easy shots for Aiton. And they're often swarming him. They are making it difficult to get the ball to get into these short roles. Well, they know what's coming. And so, you know, every team gives up certain things. And the Lakers just have too many things that are, you're very easy to give up. You will allow Jared Vanderbilt to take 700 wide open corner threes.

And if he hits enough of them to beat you, then kudos Jared Vanderbilt. You're going to let Marcus Smart take his. many threes as you want you're going to try to keep luca on the perimeter um you know i mean even like a guy like la ravia um they'll take i think they'll still default to sure joe go go basically anybody of lakers go shoot and look tonight the lakers shot 42% from they did fine yeah yeah they actually were making outside shots you know it was and you know 36 threes is you know it's not even like they took 12 um they just you know So, yeah, I mean, I think teams are very much aware of how Aidan gets the ball,

where he likes to get the ball and taking some of those plays away. And that's where it hurts where he's not the kind of center that you can kind of, you know, drop the ball into the post and let him, let him go to work. He's not a guy who's going to, you know, physically move through resistance. He, you know, stops at contact and takes little floaters. And when it works, it works. But he's, you know, his limitations. become more obvious where the Lakers are kind of suffering the way they are.

So they need to get guys back. They need to figure out a way to get Aiton going in a consistent way. I'm not ready to call this up. Here comes bad DeAndre Aten again. I think there's just too much other stuff going on. One guy, it has. There's no question.

I'm not saying it's been good. I'm just saying I'm not willing to chalk it up yet than that. He just doesn't care. He stopped trying. He stopped working. I don't necessarily think that's true. LeBron continues his resurgence. This is the, I think, the big piece of upside from this game.

26 points, 10 and 21, four of six from the line, nine rebounds, 10 assists, three steals. Obviously, you know, some disappointment he couldn't get those last couple shots even up because of a really great defensive plays from Janus. But he absolutely brought. the Lakers back in this game and has started to string together a run of good games that look much more like the LeBron we're used to. You know, his last 10 games, to me feel pretty much like what LeBron games are supposed to feel like, you know, certainly over the last couple years. He's, I think, finding a good way to pace himself throughout games.

And I don't mean necessarily like picking his spots, taking possessions off. I mean more just find a pace that works for him in terms of exerting as much energy as he needs, possession by possession basis, picking the shots that he wants. Like, it really also, I think it helps. This was not the world's greatest night in terms of synergy between him and Luca. But I think the synergy that has been, on the whole, better over the last maybe five games is really helpful for LeBron because it helps him get easier shots. And the more easy shots that he gets, the less he has to do everything on his own, the easier. The shot, you know, he did a lot of generating his own stuff on Friday, which was good to see.

No, no, no. That's right. Yes. I mean, like I said, this was not a great game for the synergy. between Luca and LeBron, which means if LeBron was going to thrive the way he did deny 26 points, 10 of 21 from the field, the line six times, made four of them, nine rebounds, 10 assists, three turnovers, but also three steals. And, you know, one of the turnovers was in the last like four seconds of the game or something. He, he, the, LeBron in the fourth quarter in particular

was quite good. He, I thought Jackson, Jackson Hayes, is not. numbers won't jump out of you and he was fighting foul trouble. But I thought Jackson made a lot of really good plays in this game, particularly in the fourth quarter, mentioned Vando. This is actually a game where enough of the role players, even if not statistically, provided what I think had Luca had a normal night, the foundational support was there for LeBron and a normal night from Luzon. I agree. It just reinforced like they have no, they have no punch off the bench. And so guys, I've never, my problem with the guys in the bench has never been that they don't try or they don't come in and work hard. It's just they need more scoring punch. And so, you know, they don't get it. You know, Reeves Hayes is, he's always going to work hard. And, you know, sometimes you might get kind of a random 14 points, 12 points wherever. But, you know, but, you know,

like you really can't expect even when he's playing well more than you know 10 points from from jackson that's a big night you know if you get eight points from gave vincent these days that's considered um like kind of a big deal if you get a bucket from maxic cleba like that's you know so it's just that's kind of where they are and they they need a full compliment of guys in in part because it pushes some of these other players into bench rolls and might give them a little more scoring punch. To the point I was just making, we'll quit here, about LeBron looking much more like himself over his, the Lakers last 10 games, LeBron's played nine of them, 26 points, five rebounds, six assists, 55% from the floor, 35% from the three point range.

So, you know, lagging behind a little bit of the numbers from last year, but definitely starting to see it. Last thing I wanted to bring up, I meant to mention it when we were talking about Aiton earlier, and I've seen a few comments, which reminded me of it. I think Aitin is also suffering without Austin because I don't think anybody ran a better pick and roll with Aiton who I think really gets Aiton's pace, like upon. setting screens and he's got kind of an unusual cadence and tempo when he sort of rolls his way to the basket or like rolls into the pocket stuff like that. Austin gets it. Maybe it's because Austin has sort of an unusual. Well, he's, I don't think it's so much that what I don't think it's like Aiton has a weird. I think he does, he's reading, you know, where the, you know, where the ball is in,

watching, you know, sort of the pace of how fast or slowly supposed to go. And just, you know, that this, the, the, the, the, the, the defensive attention and where defenders have to be when you have both of those guys out, when you have Luca and Austin, when you have, like, it's just different. And, you know, I don't, I think Aiton is running into some frustration. I think he's, you know, the Lakers offense is just not very good right now. It just brings everybody down. And he's not the kind of player who can cook, so to speak.

You have to set him up. Just wanted to mention him. He's short-armed a lot of. He's short-armed a lot of shit. I think it was a little, you know, a little frightened of the long arms of Janus threw a lot of this game. Miles Turner effectively. He short-armed a bunch of stuff tonight.

Yeah. I just thought it was worth mentioning just because something I'd planned anyway. Again, it was rare to see something like this from Luca. All superstars are going to have a really lulu of a night every now and then. I don't think this is going to happen often, but it was an unfortunately timed struggle to this degree. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is breaking a hook, go hang out with over 37,000 subscribers to the channel. Lakers play in Sacramento on Monday night. That's a game that they expect

Rui Hachamore to be back on the floor. And a game they need to win. We'll see everyone then. Or as Will Zaks. We'll see everyone for Monday's show.