Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 44 in Return to Lineup, Lakers Beat Memphis 117-112

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

The Lakers got a Halloween treat Friday when Luka Dončić and Marcus Smart were upgraded to probable ahead of their game in Memphis, and man alive, did it turn into quite a fright for the Grizzlies.��Luka dropped a smooth 44 in his return, to go along with 12 rebounds and six assists. He was, once again, incredible, in MVP form. The Lakers, meanwhile, got supporting performances from Jake LaRavia and Jaxson Hayes off the bench, and Smart helped set a tone defensively in a second half where the Lakers held Memphis to 43 points. So coming home to face a Miami squad that has played surprisingly well to start the year, the Lakers move to 4-2 and weathered what looked a week ago like it might be a very, very tough stretch of games with Luka expected to miss more time than he did, and the Lakers facing some tough opposition.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashNext time someone goes off for 50, use promo code NBA50the next day to get 50% off on DoorDash with DashPass — plus your shot at the Bag Drop.DashPass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after a 50-point game with promo code. Terms apply.No Purchase Necessary. Ends April 13th. Open to U.S. residents 21 or older. Visit DoorDashInYourBag.com for full details.DoorDash — In your bag all season long. QuoSee why over 90,000 businesses trust Quo, formerly OpenPhone. Get started free and get 20% off your first 6 months at https://www.Quo.com/LOCKEDONNBA.RipplingGet Rippling FREE for 6 months. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details: https://app.rippling.com/legal/promotermsRobinhoodYou expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBAfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com. MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at https://monarch.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearFanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting https://FanDuel.comto get startedFANDUEL 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.

Hey, everyone, welcome to a special bonus episode of Locked on Lakers. Lakers, welcome Luca Donches back to the lineup. He drops 44. As the Lakers beat Memphis in Memphis, things are looking up. I'll tell you about it next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day.

Thanks to everybody for making Lockdown Lakers. First listen to every day, Monday through Friday, and sometimes on weekends, no matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always going to be free, never behind a paywall. Locked on Lickers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000, almost 37,000 subscribers to the channel, Andy,

all of whom we're very excited to welcome Luca Donchich back to the lineup. A big day in Los Angeles sports as the Dodgers Force Game 7 and Luca Donchich continues to average over 40 points a game, joining elite company with Will Chamberlain. We'll get to that stat in a minute. But Luca, I was a little surprised to see him, you know, first bump to questionable and then to probable. And I was just happy with questionable because that meant told me maybe he plays on Sunday.

But Andy, probable. Oh, man, we got the treat part of the trick-or-treat on Halloween. Like there was no mystery box, no uncertainty, no raisins. that you were being given at the house instead of candy. We got Luca Dantzich, and man, did he make himself a return? 44 points, 14 of 27 from the field, 6 of 15 from behind the art, got to the line 13 times, made 10 of them, 12 rebounds, 6 assists. Zadrabo, hello.

I mean, that was. And a partridge and a pear tree. There's pretty much everything. As our everydayers know, I have been trying to learn more Slovenian as the Luca Dantzich era is upon us. You're basically fluent. Well, yes, I'm pretty much, Luke and I could sit down and have very long conversations. Me, Luca, and Istok Franco, I plan for the three of us to have one. As long as that conversation is just you saying hello to Luca over.

I can say now Zadrabbo, hello. And I can say, Chatea. Shatir de Sette, which is 40. I looked up that word when Luca hit 40. But then I had to learn a new word, Shatiri Senva Ziet, which is 44. That's actually how you say 44 in Slovenian, because Luca kept going.

He had no respect for my slow ability to learn vocabulary in Slovenian. Dude kept going. So I had to keep up with Luca. And as Smokey's on the chat points out, It was an easy 44. Like, it wasn't like Luca was straining to get there. His 44 looked every bit as easy as John Morant's eight, but for totally different reasons. Like, there were a few times during the broadcasts where I was not watching the prime broadcast.

I was walking spectrum sports net. I was listening to Billy and Stu wondering, is John okay? Is he all right? And then apparently on Amazon. He's played pretty well through the course of this. This was easily his most invisible game. By the way, we mentioned in the open, the Lakers won the game. It was the final score was 117 to 112.

In the, you know, they get off to a rousing start in the NBA Cup. The thing that, quite frankly, I don't want them to win if it means having them play an extra game. Although, with 500K on the line per player, I certainly wouldn't begrudge them for putting it a little extra effort. I don't think how rich you are, $500K for winning like an extra basketball game, they'll take it. And also too. I mean, you are trying to win these games

because they count towards your regular season total. And the biggest concern, if we're really being honest about the cup and big picture, would be the effect on LeBron. And I don't think he's going to be back before any of the cup anyway. I'll tell you, you know he wants that money if he gets back. I'm just saying, I mean, I don't actually even know when the cup finals are, but like, he couldn't play that many of these cup games.

So, I mean, really, the Lakers might as well try to win the second of three historic Cubs because LeBron is going to be unavailable for most of them anyway. So you look at this game and it was, it was obviously Luca is the story here. The cup final becomes a tune up game for LeBron. He probably could, in all honesty, he could probably use it. That's right. It's an exit. It's the exhibition game.

he never got to play. You know, you look at the, at this game, and it was a really interesting one just because, you know, Lakers got off to a bit of a slow start, you know, but by the middle of the first quarter really had gained some rhythm, Luca, a large part of that, helping them get through, as JJ Redick said, when our defense sucks, Luca can just keep us in games. But by the end of the first quarter, the Lakers had built up a lead. They were up by four at the end of the first. You're feeling good about things.

Second quarter starts, and you're okay, Memphis goes on a massive run to finish the second quarter. They outscore the Lakers by 18 in the second quarter, and all of a sudden you're worried. Lakers played some really excellent defense in the second half, hold Memphis to 43 points. They won three of the four quarters in this game. They just put themselves in a position where they had to climb out of a hole. but overall, if you take like six minutes out from the second half or the second quarter, they, I thought, really played a really good game, especially when you consider those sort of the momentary readjustment to having Luca back in the lineup.

I don't even think it was entire, it was really momentarily. To me, it felt like the entire game, like in particular, Austin Reeves, I think he is going to have to adjust back to, not having the ball for in his hands a lot. He had 21 points, but 5 of 14 from the field, two of eight from behind the arc, 9 of 9 at the line, and Austin continues to do that. And I'm not surprised because for the three games,

Luca was out, Austin truly had the ball at all times. And obviously that is not ideal big picture, but small picture, that's Austin's comfort zone. I mean, he really is most comfortable in that high, usage role. I have no concerns, by the way, about him and Luca rediscovering that synergy. It just, I don't think it completely happened in this game. You mentioned that second quarter. There was a period where the Lakers, other than free throws, really were not scoring at all. And that's really when they fell into that hole. DeAndre Aiton, this interesting subplot of this game,

did not play in the second half and didn't reemerge from halftime until almost the third quarter. I think it was about the start of the fourth quarter. He just came back to the bench. Right. And he was being worked on with one of those like Theragun type dealies, back spasms. We were told it sounded like one of those things where if D'Andre really had to play, they would have tried to give it a go. He didn't have to between Lucas's performance,

and we should make sure to mention Jackson Hayes' performance. He played very well, yeah. He played really well in this game. The stats will not necessarily jump off the page, 2.7 rebounds, but 5 assists. 7 rebounds, 5 assists in 23 minutes jumps off page. Yeah, you're right. No, no, actually you're right.

The scoring won't, but the rest of it will. plus 15. You know, that's pretty good. He played extremely well in a half where the team really needed him. And it should be noted. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Aton had a pretty strong, you know, the rebounds weren't necessarily there, but, you know, four of six from the field in the first half, you know,

Aton was, you know, a solid presence there offensively early. But, you know, after the, let's take a quick break. But then after it's like you brought up Hayes. this was a and sort of that idea of like statistically it won't some of the stuff won't pop off the page. I think that was true of a lot of really positive contributors to this game. So we'll break that down next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Robin Hood. Your ambition just met its match with Robin Hood.

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what was working here on Friday night in Memphis. But he was not the only positive contributor. You mentioned Austin Reeves with finishing with that 21. Despite an inefficient night, we talked about Jackson Hayes. They welcomed Marcus Smart back to the lineup.

And I thought particularly in the second half, Smart was a really important part of the result here. And again, statistically, 12 points, three rebounds, four assists. That's actually, I think, kind of in line with what the Lakers hope to get out of smart, on a, you know, give or take on a night-to-night basis. But that just drives home the idea, and he was a plus 12.

That just drives home the idea that smarts, physicality. Reddick talked about it after the game, those kinds of things as a tone set or what he brings started the game, by the way, which is something I know you and I were hoping to see. I was actually, to be honest, I talked about this on this afternoon's reaction show to Luca and Marcus getting up. React! Upgraded to Probable, which meant they were going to play.

I expected Vando to start just because they had been limiting Marcus's minutes. So I thought it would just be simpler to have him come off the bench. Not only did he start, he played almost 35 minutes, which was a bit surprising. And he said afterwards he felt good. Yeah. But I just, I know you both of us in this sort of LeBron free world would have expressed. We prefer to see smart fill that spot. And I guess whatever was limiting that, whether it was just liking different choices,

Gabe Vincent obviously was starting games before. He can't play right now. So that has an influence, whatever it is. I think they have found their way into the lineup they should have been playing anyway. Or would have played if they could have, whatever the reason. You can really see how he changes the tone of what they do, particularly like when you can get him and Vando on the floor at the same time with the right offensive pieces around them.

That adds a grit to this team that they could use. Yeah, Vando had a nice game. There were several plays where through his hustle and tapping around loose balls, deflection, stuff like that, he just kept opportunities alive for the Lakers. And him and smart, to your point, like the disruption factor with those two out there is really high. for that matter, the disruption factor the last couple games with Jake Laravia has been very well.

The last couple games, Jake has been really good. I thought he played very well in this game tonight. And defensively, there were several possessions where he got steals just from reading the floor or created a turnover or a miss while just bodying up either bodding up around the basket or botting up the guy that he was defending. And it's been in the last couple of games, I think, a good showcase of what La Ravia can do defensively just through anticipation and basketball IQ.

Because, you know, the speed and some of the other things, like he's not going to be able to keep up with some guys in terms of just staying in front of them, some of the quickness issues, things like that. You know, one of the things I've noticed with Jake, like his feet, even by the standards of a guy that's like six, eight, his shoes almost look like clown shoes. And because of that, it sometimes makes Jake frankly look kind of slow and plotting out there.

You know what he's not? Yeah, I don't know how much one truly has to do with the other, but it is. Well, if he is wearing clown shoes, that would explain it. It's become visually imprinted in my mind and made Jake seem very slow. but I have noticed he reads stuff very well and I think does a good job kind of like in the way like Kyle Anderson has become a very good defender without you know he runs like a nine five 40 but manages to be in the right places I I Jake's haircut also tracks slowly like that that's not that's not a fast person's hair he needs a makeover if he wants to look if he wants to look quicker on a bunch of

different levels. Yeah, it's just that's not a that's not a speedy. He's in the right city though. He can make this happen. I but like you just look at what he does when we when when we were kind of doing the scouting reports and all that kind of stuff when they brought him in. There were some numbers that suggest that La Ravia if used properly has had some success as a defender. Like again, like you said, you don't want to put them out on a point of attack against you know, a couple times you got matched up against Jha. That was like, or like i think a position against like cedric coward who was like you know thank i'll thank you very much for that um and you know you but like you put him in the right situations and he can defend

and he can be part of a good team defense and you see the overall skill set that he has he's just he's good at a lot of things i don't think he's elite at anything but he's good at a lot of stuff yeah and a guy like that is both helpful to have in the lineup, but also allows you to play with a lot of players. You can do stuff with him. You're not limited. Lakers have had his, you know, the last few years. Too many guys that are limited in their skill set, which makes them hard to play with other players. Yeah, to your point, 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, just doing a little bit of everything. It was a nice night for Jay. again, back to back, good showings.

This was a game where I thought the Lakers did a very good job, both adjusting to the new pieces, you know, Luca and Marcus being back after missing a few games, dealing with some adversity in terms of Memphis having a couple of runs, DeAndre Aiton, being able to not being able to play in the second half, you know, last game of a roadie. there were just a lot of positives in this game. And again, it really helps when your superstar returns and puts up 44, 12, and 6.

It makes a difference. So the Lakers will come back to play the heat on Sunday. It's a heat team that's playing kind of surprisingly well, although Norm Powell has been out last couple of games with the hamstring, the heat. One of those surprising teams thus far in the east that will not be the necessarily the, I want to say. easy but easier profiled game that it seemed like it might be a week or so ago. The flip side of that is the Lakers have come through a stretch that a week ago, we were very concerned about what this could mean, you know, potentially playing five or six games without Luca over the course of maybe eight or nine days.

Luca gets back faster than people expect. The Lakers won two of the three games without them and are moving right along. Things are looking good. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is we can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers. Of course, be back after the game on Sunday. But, Andy, we cannot leave and usher people into the weekend until we tell them about this. Locked on Lakers is also brought to you by Fandul, and the NBA obviously is back in full season. And that's why you're getting stunning work like this.

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