Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 38, but Overmatched Lakers Lose in San Antonio, 107-91
Episode Date: January 8, 2026It's hard to fault the effort, but the Lakers—who added LeBron James to the list of guys in street clothes, to go along with Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura—ultimately were out-talented Wednesday ...night in San Antonio. Final score, 107-71. It was a sloppy game, for sure, but the Lakers did what they could to stay in it. What they needed, though, was a night where the whole team shoots well from downtown, offense came from surprising sources, or maybe both. Those things didn't happen, so the Lakers were essentially left with a very, very good Luka Dončić, who was involved in basically every bucket the Lakers managed to score. He finished with 38/10/10. Jake LaRavia finished with 16 points, but the rest of the starting lineup (Deandre Ayton, Jarred Vanderbilt, Marcus Smart) combined for TK points. The bench wasn't of much help, either, with only Jaxson Hayes cracking double digits (10 points). San Antonio, on the other hand, also had a rough night shooting as a team, but even without Devin Vassell available, just had significantly more firepower on hand to get the job done. It shows why it was so important for the Lakers to win on Tuesday in New Orleans. Even if LeBron played, the end result (if not the path to get there) could have looked much different. So now the Lakers come home to kick off a stretch of winnable games, specifically five games in a row against teams currently under .500. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Lakers are shorthanded, and the game goes as expected. SEGMENT 2: Lakers don't have much offense in the supporting cast. SEGMENT 3: Five critical games coming. 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/NBA. 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 tohttps://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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
The Lakers put up a good fight in San Antonio, but are ultimately overmatched and they lose, despite a huge game from Luca Donchich.
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, everybody for making Lockdown Lakers first listen to every day, no matter how you get the podcast, whether that's Apple, iTunes, Spotify, maybe you're one of the 37,000 subscribers.
to the Locked on Lakers YouTube channel
no matter how you do it,
you are responsible for making
locked on the number one podcast
sports podcast network
in this or any other known universe
I'm Brian Kamenetsky
with Andy Kamenetsky.
Long time, almost two decades now
covering the Lakers for a bunch of outlets
including ESPN and the LA
well Andy likes to remind me
nobody reads the paper anymore.
They don't know what the LA Times is,
but we work there and also the
Well, they know the Los Angeles Times exist.
They just don't know
it in paper form. They know what L.A.Times.com is. Okay, maybe. Well, we worked there. And also for the
athletic. Anyway, so look, this was going to be one of those games, I think, for the Lakers.
It was pretty clear. Nobody knew for sure whether LeBron was going to play in this game after a big
game on Tuesday night in New Orleans. But I think it was better than even money that he wouldn't.
We certainly suggested the possibility after the
New Orleans game that it had not been clarified and that we thought there was at least a
decent chance that he wasn't going to play. It was reported during shoot-around. I want to say
Dan Boykin from the athletic said that it was still unknown at that point. LeBron was going to
decide after he woke up from his typical afternoon nap, see how he felt. And it was ultimately
decided, again, not all that surprising that he was not going to play the same.
second end of a back to back.
The idea that the old man would figure it out after a nap is pretty as a, you know,
the writers are really getting the hang of it.
To be fair, the young players all take naps to.
Like all these dudes sleep during the day, particularly after travel.
But just so people understand this, like Prime Shack, it was well known.
Don't you ever disturb that man during, like, unless it is an emergency, like the
house is on fire and you're not able to roll shacks bed out of the house as it's on fire.
You do not wake that man during his now.
I will say that.
LeBron, reputationalally speaking, is not just a goat player.
He is, by all accounts, a goat napper as well.
God, I wish I had that skill.
That's how you get to age 41 in the NBA, man.
Yeah, that's one of them.
So, look, I mean, this is going to be, obviously no Austin, no ruin.
and now no LeBron, you're going up against a St. Antonio team that didn't have Devin Vassell,
but other than that, you know, Wembe's back, and there's just a lot of depth on that squad.
This was going to be a tough win, and it wasn't.
The Lakers lose this game.
San Antonio takes it 107 to 91.
Lakers lose by 16, but that is actually misleading.
The game was far more competitive than that throughout most of it.
You know, this was, you will get to some of the responses that players and coaches had after the game.
But honestly, this was one of those games that you look at, and you don't look at it as a moral victory necessarily,
but you can still look at it as a positive experience that reflects on the type of team that you have.
And I think that's what the Lakers did.
I tweeted out during this game at Cambrothers.
if the Lakers were as regularly conscientious about getting back on defense in transition as they were during this game,
it would not solve all of their defensive problems, but it would be a nice start.
This was a game where you can fault the lack of shot making by anyone not named Luca Ardanchich,
or I guess you could say Jake or L'ORAVA, Jake, maybe not.
chipped in enough, but he certainly chipped in a reasonable amount.
It was a reasonable.
For people, no, Jake Laravia had seven, 16 points, seven rebounds, you know.
But I just meant purely, I meant purely just scoring.
Like Jake had 16, nobody else had 10.
And 16 clearly from Jake was not enough.
But it is a reasonable amount to expect from Jake LaRavia.
So offensively, in terms of shopmaking, in terms of other guys,
stepping up on that end of the floor, there clearly was not enough there to build off what
Luca did. Dude was just super human in this game.
He was insane.
38 points, 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists.
But I do feel like the effort across the board defensively was there.
The team was up for the fight spirit-wise.
They just were not up for the fight production-wise, and the production ultimately matters.
They're out talented in this game.
I mean, you get past the second best score on the floor for the Lakers was Jake.
I mean, come on.
What are we doing here?
And I don't mean that to disparage Jake Laravia,
but when you go into a game against the second best team in the conference,
and you do so with Jake Laravia as your second most.
viable scoring threat.
That is generally not going to take you very far.
Lakers just starred for offense in this game.
But the Luca part of it, and we'll get to some of the stuff that JJ said after the
game, but the Luca part of it, he talked after the game about how kind of proud he was
of the team.
And, you know, his normal routine of self-criticism, he turned the ball over too much,
he thought and all that stuff.
He did have seven turnovers.
I,
there was a,
you used the word spirit a couple seconds ago.
I think that was like there was a spirit with how Luca was playing in this game.
There was sort of a lightness and a leadership with what he was doing.
Like it didn't,
he didn't make this game feel like a grind,
I think for,
for the,
for the players.
And,
you know,
he threw an ins,
another, you know, we talked about the Ali Ups in Tuesday's game.
The one he threw to Jackson Hayes, the first half of this game was bananas.
Jackson ended up throwing down a reverse layup off this pass
that was not just half to three-quarters court.
It managed to get over Wembe Nyama's arms perfectly on point for Jackson to throw down this reverse layout.
Like it was an absolutely insane pass from it was phenomenal and like so like he was there was a spirit is the right word and there are the lakers have a stretch now coming up which I want you know we'll talk about if we don't talk about it much in this episode we'll get to it for the next one the lakers have five I believe games in a row coming up against teams under 500 and that is a critical stretch
and I honestly think what what they showed in this game,
whether like you said,
the spirit of getting back defensively,
really paying attention to that kind of stuff,
you know,
the consistent effort,
the willingness to put in kind of the,
I don't want to say it was a lost cause,
but it had a feeling that it might be unless they need one of those nights
where the Lakers just got kind of unusually hot
from three point range or something like that.
And that has not been their MO of late Lakers 9 of 39 from three point range.
I really like it out shoot those San Antonio from behind the arc.
Like San Antonio averages 119 points a game.
They held San Antonio to 107.
San Antonio shot 16% from behind the arc, 49% overall.
Some of that is Lakers defense.
Some of that is just lousy shooting.
But you could say the same thing about some of the shots.
The Lakers missed.
No, the only difference is I am at this point sort of expecting the Lakers to miss open three points.
But the point being, though, like if you're going to say that some of these were missed makeable shots by San Antonio,
you also have to say the same thing about the Lakers.
Like I defensively, I mean, it's rare to say this.
Their defense was not perfect because this team's defense is never going to be perfect for 48 minutes.
but the defense was not the problem in this game.
No, not even, no, not at all.
It was the inability to make shots and to provide Luca Donchich any real high-end support in this game.
He just had nothing going on at all, just trying to find someone and didn't get it.
It was, you know, they are an offensively challenged group.
I think there's just sort of no.
when guys are missing, I should say,
they're an offensively challenge group.
Like when you have Austin Reeves and LeBron James
and Ruey Hotchamers there,
it's top heavy,
but it's a team that can put up a lot of points
because you have so much skill
at the top of that lineup.
When you start taking one of those guys away,
you can see what it does the rotation.
When you take two of them away,
it really starts to hurt.
When you take three of them away,
you're not really an NBA team at that point.
Well, and also,
tune, we'll get into this.
The Lakers, you saw the limitations,
and obviously this version of the Lakers,
like this roster.
If this is what they had for the next 40-ish games,
they might as well just start becoming sellers
because that group isn't going anywhere.
But beyond the lack of shot making in this game,
you also saw the lack of shot-crack.
again beyond anyone named Luca or Donchitz.
So we can talk about that as well coming up next.
Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Rocket Money.
Let's be real.
Managing finances can feel overwhelming between subscriptions.
You forgot about bills that keep going up,
trying to figure out where your money actually goes each month.
It is easy to feel like you're losing control.
And who has time to track every single transaction or hunt down every hidden fees?
We all got jobs and lives and kids and stuff like that.
that, it all gets in the way. That's why rocket money becomes your savior, the personal finance
app that helps you take control, find, cancel, unwanted subscription, monitor your spending,
help lower your bills so you can grow your savings. It tracks all your subscriptions,
let you cancel them right in the app with a few taps. You don't have to hunt down some customer
service number be on hold for an hour. You can set budgets and goals, get personalized insights,
receive real-time alerts for large transactions,
upcoming bills, low balances,
and it even consolidates your checking, savings, loans, investments,
all into a single dashboard so you can get a clear view
of your entire financial picture.
Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster.
Join at RocketMoney.com slash Locked on.
That's RocketMoney.com slash locked on.
RocketMoney.com slash locked on.
Locked on Lakers,
also brought to you by BetterHelp as we roll into the new year. There's a lot of pressure to
chase the new you, but sometimes it isn't about reinventing yourself. It's about feeling a little
less weighed down. And therapy can help you understand what's been holding you back by giving
an outside perspective when your emotions, your motivations, your relationships. And that's
why BetterHelp can be such a helpful place to start. Therapists at BetterHelp are fully licensed
in the U.S. and work under a strict code of conduct. They help match you with a therapist based
on your needs and preferences.
So you're not doing all that legwork on your own.
It's certainly one of the most intimidating parts of therapy,
especially if you're getting into it for the first time,
is finding a therapist because you just generally don't know who some of these people are.
You may not want to ask somebody, hey, who's your person?
You might not want to have that conversation with friends or with family.
So they do some of that work for you.
And if match isn't right, you can switch to another therapist from their tailored
recommendations at any time.
So BetterHelp makes it easy.
to get matched online with a qualified therapist.
They've served over 5 million people with over 30,000 therapists and live sessions average of 4.9 out of 5 across more than 1.7 million client reviews.
Again, BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with qualified therapists.
Sign up and get 10% off of BetterHelp.com.
That's BetterHelphelp.com slash NBA.
Yeah, I saw like the stuff that.
they were doing Andy in this game,
like the shooting.
And it's like they,
there's not a lot that could be done,
you know,
to,
they weren't doing anything wrong.
And I think that's really what JJ harped on at the,
after this game was over.
It was just like,
they were doing the right stuff.
And that's all we can ask,
um,
you know,
of,
of this roster given who was missing.
Yeah.
I'm looking right now for this stat at,
halftime the Lakers had 16 field goals.
Luca had scored or assisted on 14 of them.
Like again, just a reminder that the dude was a...
George Panano noted on the ESPN broadcast that I believe it was
39 of the 40-something points that the Lakers had at the halftime.
Luca was responsible for either scoring or assisting.
It's like 91%.
Shout out to our buddy George.
But also, too, like you look at, and I know assists are obviously dictated by made baskets.
They go hand in hand.
But Luke has 10 assists in this game.
The Lakers have 16 as a team.
Nobody else has more than two.
Gabe had two, Gabe Vincent, made his return the night, 18 minutes, which JJ said was going to be basically his cap.
Six points, two of eight from the field, two of seven from behind the arc.
but you just saw between him and Marcus Smart, who had two points in this game, one of six from the field,
missed all three of his threes, one assist against four turnovers.
There was nobody else on this team really able to just generate shots for other guys.
Like forget the idea of who else was responsible for making them.
Like when you don't have LeBron and you don't have all.
Austin, on top of not having Rui, who if nothing else, is one of the best finishers on this team in terms of he's a three-level score. He can finish plays. When you don't have him as a potential option to score, and you don't have Luca, I mean, LeBron and Austin to help create these looks and the rest of the guards that you have out there really are not meant to be.
primary or even high-end secondary playmakers, again, it all just falls entirely on Lucas
shoulders. And the dude did everything you could possibly ask for from him realistically,
offensively. I mean, he just did not get enough help. The effort was there from his teammates,
but they needed more than just effort. They needed success on that, and they just didn't find it.
And there's only so much you can ask.
I mean, like, you know, guys like Nick Smith and La Ravia.
And, you know, La Ravia was the only other starter in double figures.
Jackson Hayes with 10 points was the only other player that the Lingers had in double figures.
They scored 91 points.
That's not good in an NBA game.
But I'll go back to this point that I was, I mentioned a little bit in the first segment.
And JJ noted it after the game.
The leadership part of this for Luca.
of, you know, he said, you know, over the last five or six games,
what they've gotten from Luca is, has been much better.
And I don't think he was just talking about the efficiency and things like that.
It was another game where Luca was very efficient from the floor,
getting much closer to that early season type output and stuff like that.
part of what made that first three weeks, first month, so much fun.
Watching Luca was the kind of the spirit that he had.
There was a sense of enjoyment to what Luca was doing that was infectious for the rest of the team.
And I think that was a big part of those early season vibes that seemed to carry the Lakers through
where you could look at all of these numbers and missing players and can't figure out what kind of team are they.
Part of the vibes was Luca's leadership and spirit, and JJ talked about how that's improved again over the last few games.
And I think it was particularly visible in this game which Luca, who is no moron, knew full well the Lakers were probably going to lose.
And yet the leadership was still there.
I think that's really significant.
Here's an example that I, this is going to sound like a backhanded compliment, and it's not.
I really do mean it because this was a night where it had to be this way.
If we're all being honest, Luca is an incessant complainer on the court.
Like this is his reputation going back.
I don't know.
Dallas, it's his reputation in overseas plays.
Now, and the NBA is a league filled with incessant complainers.
Luca is hardly the only guy who yells at the refs and jawbones them for the entire time he's on the court.
Like he's got a lot of company, and he certainly is not one of the worst when it comes to constant technicals and whatever.
But this is something Luca does.
There's only one time in this game that I can recall off the top of my head,
Luca not getting back because he was yelling at the officials.
And that's, I would like to think at least, because Luca recognized this was a night, no, seriously, we cannot have me doing that during this game.
Like, I need to be getting back every single time.
Like, that is leadership because that means Luca is, he is altering his personality on some level.
He is altering his emotions on some level.
he's recognizing I cannot be in character, you know, in typical character in this context.
So again, it is not a backhanded compliment.
I mean that as a form of leadership.
If he does it, everyone does it.
Well, especially on this team with Luca and LeBron, who is another guy who is a complaint.
You know, look, sometimes Luca doesn't get back because he's complaining.
Sometimes he doesn't get back because he's tired.
Sometimes he doesn't get back because he's not.
you know, it's not his, you know, that's not the side of the floor that he is most focused on.
LeBron certainly will anticipate, you know, what's going to happen on the other end and sometimes gets caught
and it's not a good look and what everybody's, you know, making compromises at his age and stuff like that.
But when guys, when you're shorthanded, if you want to give yourself a chance to win, the best player on the floor has
It can't just be the guy who does it based on skill.
He's got to do it based on the other stuff, too.
He's got to set the example in every way.
There was early in the first quarter,
the Lakers had miscommunications,
a couple things on a couple possessions.
Luca called the group together.
Like, we got to straighten this out,
like quickly, just little stuff like that.
And your best player,
there are a lot of ways to lead.
There are a lot of ways to do.
it and they're like, but like, guys take their cues and Lucas' cue delivering in this game was
fantastic.
And again, I know they lost this game and I'm not trying to make it a moral victory.
I didn't expect them to win it.
But it's more of a question of what do you take?
What was this game that was like, did this game build on?
what they were doing over the last week or so,
despite the fact that they won.
And I think the answer is an unequivocal yes.
I think it absolutely built.
And I think there's a good chance you see the results of that Friday against Milwaukee.
I hope so.
We'll see.
All right.
Well, let's look a little bit at that next stretch of schedule.
Who is going to be back?
Who may not be?
and what the opportunity looks like for the Lakers because the games they got coming up,
they need to win because the games after that get kind of tricky.
So that's next.
Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul.
Fridays already feel different during basketball season.
Fan duels making them even better,
which is mentioned the Lakers are going to be playing the Bucks on Friday.
So every Friday night, be aware of this before the games tip off,
fan duel gives fans a new way to kick off the weekend with NBA Happy Hour.
NBA Happy Hour is your official pregame, a limited time window where special offers drop right inside the Fandual app before the action starts.
Fridays from 6 to 7.30 Eastern have become appointment viewing with NBA Happy Hour.
Opening the Fandual app during Happy Hour always brings something new, boosts, bonuses, and surprises.
It's easy to check the weekly special right before tip off and make a move before the window closes.
So before tip off, check the Fandual app, see what's dropping under an NBA happy hour every Friday night from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern, a little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA happy hour only on Fandual, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA.
Do you want to mention to folks, if you are interested in getting the Locked on Lakers experience without ads, you can do that by joining the Everydayer Club.
That is something that we are offering now on the network.
It's a way to get the show without any ads in your feed,
whether you're getting it through Apple,
whether you're getting it through Spotify,
no matter how you do it,
if that's, you know,
you get the audio feed without any commercial interruptions.
You also get to join the Locked-on Lakers Discord chat.
You get an invitation to that,
and something that I will be participating in as well.
You do it by going to locked-onlakers.
com,
It's $5 a month, $50 a year, and you have that ad-free experience that I know a lot of you guys want because we get your emails.
If you don't want to pay, do nothing.
The experience today is exactly the same, and we love you just the same no matter how you take in the show.
So every day at a club, check out the show notes for it.
Lockedonlakers.supercast.com.
The Lakers, we talked about the Milwaukee game on Friday.
Milwaukee is an under 500 team.
We sort of think of them as, you know, they've been a contender for the last few years.
They've still got Janus.
They're not good right now.
They get the Kings on Monday.
So not only do they get a game on Friday, Andy, you get a couple days off.
And then you're in Sacramento to face the King.
So not a long trip.
Tuesday, you're at home against the Hawks.
The Hawks have a lot of talent, but they're not over 500.
And then on Thursday.
We don't know yet how they're going to fit in Corey Kispert and C.J. McCollum after the
That's true.
The Tray Young Deal is an interesting one, but we won't really have the bandwidth talk about
it tonight.
But overall, I think it will help Atlanta.
But I mean, they've more or less been playing without Trey for most of the season anyway.
They needed the closure, I think.
Absolutely.
I think C.J. McCollum and Corey Kisbert actually can provide some help.
I actually love, I love CJ on the Hawks.
And Kisbert is sort of like Luke Kinnard, another version of that.
And your guys like that are useful.
I think Atlanta is a pretty decent team, but they are under 500,
and the Lakers are playing that game at home.
And then you turn around a week from Thursday,
You get Charlotte at home.
They're not very good.
And then you're on the road against the Blazers,
who are a talented team, also under 500.
That's a stretch, Andy, of five games in a row against sub 500 teams,
not trash teams, not garbage teams, but sub 500 teams.
You need to make noise in this stretch of schedule.
This buildup that the Lakers have had would be great if they'd turn around now
and take down Oklahoma City and go, you know, beat Cleveland and New York.
Sure.
But what they really need to do is make sure they take advantage of games against teams that are under 500.
This is a four-and-one stretch.
You know, if you're playing well, that's what you want out of these five games.
I had a conversation for my weekly ESPN-L.A. 710 radio show Lakers talk that's going to be on Thursday evening.
I don't know the exact time because we're going on after one of the college football bowl playoff games, whatever the hell one it is.
But I'm guessing it'll be roughly 8.30-ish p.m. Pacific times when the show starts.
But I did an interview with Camille Davis, co-host of Lockdown Bucks, previewing this game.
And one of the things that she acknowledged is factors like pushing pace, whether off MAKES,
whether we're even seeing misses or makes.
We're seeing teams just run on the Lakers constantly.
Points in the paint, points off turnovers, second chance points.
These are all areas where the Bucks do not thrive at all.
They're like somewhere between middle to bottom 10, even bottom five in the league,
since Yannis has returned.
I'm not even talking on this season.
I mean, since his return, these are things they've not been very good even with Yannis back in the line.
I mean, they're four in one, but they've beaten Chicago, the Hornets twice, and I think the Kings, because everyone beats the Kings.
They lost to the Wizards. They've lost to the Wizards twice this season.
But anyway.
They did lose Tuesday night.
I'm sorry, Wednesday, to go to the Warriors.
And I asked Camille about these things specifically.
sure you all can imagine, because these are some of the areas where the Lakers, even by their standards,
are often vulnerable defensively. The Bucks are not strong in any of these areas. And I asked
Camille, I was like, is it safe to assume that if the Bucks thrive in any of these spaces, it says more
about the Lakers than the Bucks? She said, most likely, yeah, it does. So even with Yonan,
us back. The bucks
do not do a lot
of what really hurts
the Lakers. LeBron, I imagine,
is going to play in
this game. Fingers crossed.
Rui could maybe
be available. Ruey, by the way, we
should know. We forgot to mention this earlier. Rui
was assigned to
South Bay so he could get a
practice in. Right. And he's practicing.
That's good. He was not a
full participant in all of the
practice, but he did practice
I doubt the Lakers are practicing on Thursday, so that could potentially get in the way of Rui playing on Friday,
just because typically teams look to get a full practice.
The next game would be Monday, so you could give Rui a few extra days.
Regardless, it seems like he's getting closer.
But the version of the Lakers that played the Grizzlies, these back-to-back games,
they should be able to beat these bucks
if they, as I often talk about,
control the controllables.
They should be able to beat them.
Yeah.
In some ways, you know,
am I looking forward to the end of the month
when the Lakers, after the,
you know, I mentioned that list of five games,
then they play the Raptors who have been, you know,
pretty good.
You know, then they get the Nuggets who won't have Yokic
but are still, you know,
a very good team.
You know, a resurgent Clippers team.
You see the Mavericks, which is always an emotion.
Like there's a lot of high profile games.
They get the calves at the end of the month, stuff like that.
Those games are really exciting.
They're, you know, the kind of things you mark the calendar for and all that.
But in terms of me really thinking about like, where can this team finish in the conference?
What kind of team are they?
from a like a professional standpoint,
these next five games are just as instructive as,
you know,
a game that they might be playing against one of the top teams in either conference.
Like this is like sort of the day-to-day workman lunch pails stuff,
not to get all Byron Scott hardhattie on everyone,
but like this stretch of games is very important.
It's very revealing.
And it's the type of stuff that you need to take advantage of.
that when you get to those games against the good teams, you've built in the good habits and you've
done the repetitions and you've played the right way. You've done all the stuff so that you can
rise to the occasion against the good teams. Yeah. And you just keep stacking those wins.
The Lakers are, to say the least, a mixed bag against the best teams in the league and more on the
bad side than the good. But they are 11 games above 500.
because they beat the teams they're supposed to,
and it may not feel impressive in terms of their ability to go deep in the playoffs,
but it is important in terms of if nothing else trying to set themselves up with the best seat possible in the playoffs
so maybe they can round into their best form, catch a few breaks, all that stuff.
Before we go real quick, I want to make sure we give a shout out to Matt George,
who hosted for several years, Locked on Kings.
announced today that he is leaving the show for a new opportunity.
He did not say yet what it was.
He's not publicly revealed it, but.
You could be playing for the Kings.
You know what?
Not impossible.
Given where that team is right now, it is not impossible that his next gig is, you know,
reserve small forward.
Well, I really hope that for Matt George moving forward, he's doing something better than playing
for the Kings.
But we've had Matt on the show many times over the years.
His coverage of the Kings is awesome.
He is a great dude on top of it.
So just wanted to give him a shout at and wish him the best, man.
We really enjoyed working with Matt George over the last,
was it four or five years.
We've been with the network.
Yep, absolutely.
So good luck to him.
And then for Friday, I think we'll get into a little bit more of JJ's comments
after the game about accountability, including accountability for himself that we didn't have a chance
to get into for this one.
So leadership and accountability talk for Friday's show.
We'll see everyone then.
