Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 49, Lakers Beat Minnesota 128-110 for First Win of the Season

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Saturday, a bonus post-game win episode of Locked on Lakers. Brian Kemincki, Andy Komeneski, Luca Dantz, scores 49 points, and the Lakers get their first win of the season. Breakdown next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on 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 and sometimes on Saturdays, no matter how or where you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:39 This one's always going to be free for you and never behind a paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000. Very happy subscribers to channel Andy after the Lakers get their first win of the season. They bounce back in a big way, particularly over the second half. After a 128, 110 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that unceremoniously dumped them from the playoffs last year. A little bit of revenge for the Lakers, although they probably still would have rather won the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:01:11 But a really nice game all around for the Lakers. It starts with Luca Donchich, 49 points, and darn near a triple double. But it was a really good game, particularly given Andy, started off a little dicey. It started out dicey, but nothing that was out of control for the Lakers. And the second quarter, we'll get into some of the details,

Starting point is 00:01:41 but I think the second quarter was in a lot of ways shaped and then changed the game through the effort of Marcus Smart and Jared Vanderbilt. I thought they both really redirected the game in a positive way for the Lakers, combined with, interestingly enough, Luca's 49 points, The game in a lot of ways, I think, also started to turn for the better from the Lakers during a period where he was off the floor. But before we even get into some of the specifics, I tweeted out at Cam Brothers, tonight was everything that you would want from the Lakers after a bad opening night insofar as addressing the stuff that really either went wrong for the Lakers or pissed Laker fans off. Strong third quarter. check. Made your free throws. Check. Ball security. Check. More physicality. Check. Balance scoring. Check. More activity. Check.

Starting point is 00:02:41 Animated LeBron on the bench. Check. Everything that fans were looking for was there in this game. I'm not saying that there aren't things that could be better, but that's what the entire season is for drilling down on those things. But as far as bouncing back, in particular from the stuff that bit you in the ass on Tuesday against the Warriors, the Lakers did a phenomenal job. Yeah, it was one of these things that, you know, Minnesota was like smoking hot at the beginning of the game. Like when the Lakers played bad defense, Minnesota obviously took advantage. When the Lakers played good defense, Minnesota took advantage. They were hitting shots from everywhere, and they needed.

Starting point is 00:03:29 And when they weren't hitting shots, they were getting all the second chance opportunities possible. Well, it was just the whole thing was just, you know, they were, the Lakers were definitely on the back foot and defensive. And, you know, they fell down early, but by the end of the first quarter, were able to kind of claw back into it in part because, not in part because, in large part, because Lucas scored 23 points in the first quarter. it was basically the Timberwolves versus Luca over the first 12 minutes of that game and Luca kept the Lakers pretty close and then like you say from that point on the Lakers won every quarter.

Starting point is 00:04:10 They were down by four at the end of the first. They won the second quarter by nine, the third quarter, which we'll get to by 11 and the fourth, even including garbage time by four. So, you know, they won. the rest of the game from that point. And I have to feel like this is a major burden. You, JJ Redick was asked after the game.

Starting point is 00:04:36 Like, could you kind of feel the angst? I know it's only been one game. And he was basically said, yeah, I know what's out there. Like, you know, and he didn't respond by chastising Laker fans for treating every single win and loss like this. No, he, living and dying by every win and loss. He did not make that mistake. He didn't pull of Darwin.

Starting point is 00:04:58 No, but he did say, like, you know, I like a fan, I like that our fans give a bleep. He wouldn't say the word because they didn't want to get fine. But neither do I. So he, but that, you know, he, he likes that from the Lakers fan base. But like the Lakers, had they lost this game, particularly had they lost, with a really bad defensive performance, and Minnesota comes in and he's, like they're going to Sacramento,

Starting point is 00:05:21 down, you know, feeling bad about themselves, O-N-2 and alarm bells are going off. So this is a level-setter for the Lakers and proof that there's a formula there for them to win games early in the season, even when they're not at full strength. Yeah, and we mentioned Luca Donchich and just the show that he put on, 23 first quarter points. had, I believe, 32 in the first half. He got to the line 12 times.

Starting point is 00:05:57 I believe he was 9 of 14 from the field. But it was a lot. Like, Luca became the Jimmy Butler. Exhausted me. He was so tired at the end of the first quarter. I mean, and while it's obviously like breathtaking and jaw dropping to see Luca do this, the reality is it's not. And you and I were texting back and forth during the game.

Starting point is 00:06:24 And one of the things that we both independently landed on was the importance of the other guys during the period in the second quarter while Luca was sitting, getting the game under control. You had some good, you had some really good plays offensively from Austin Reeves and Rui Hachamora. You had some great, in a lot of ways, game-changing defense and disruption from Marcus Martin, Jared Vanderbilt. And it was so important that I think in a lot of ways those guys help kind of stabilize and change the game, even with Lucas sitting after that explosion, because it's not a sustainable formula. And we just saw. He's not going to average 92 points a game. Right.

Starting point is 00:07:10 And it's not a thing. There also, there just needs to be better balanced discovered. And then in the second half, things remained really balanced. and Luca was a big part of orchestrating that balance. The big thing was the way he very clearly started going out of his way to continually involve DeAndre Aiton, and that brought out a strong half from Aiton on both sides of the ball. Yeah, they got the ball to DeAndre,

Starting point is 00:07:39 and I want to talk about Aiton because, and we'll get to him. But they got the ball into Aiton early in the third quarter, and it made a big difference. But to your point before, Andy, I do think the game really turned when Marcus Smart came in. And it is, you know, people, we've talked about it. People know how I feel about the starting lineup. People know how you feel about the starting lineup.

Starting point is 00:08:06 I feel like. The starting lineup remained Gabe, by the way. Right. That's what I'm getting there. But like, you know, Gabe Benson started again on Friday. I feel like that should be Marcus Smart. Although I do wonder if there just is. is still a bit of a limitation there only because smart, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:24 granted blow out. He didn't have to play late. And I think he probably sort of would have been on the floor, but only played like 20 minutes. So I think they're trying to keep him. I think they would love to keep his minutes down early in the year since he really missed so much of training camp. So we'll see.

Starting point is 00:08:42 Like if he, but if he keeps playing like this, it gets harder to not have him in as a starter. I guess the benefit is you can kind of use him surgically in games, you know, the five minutes, seven minutes stretches or wherever he's needed. But ultimately, I think that would be better for them if they could figure out how to get him to start. But to me, that he's not just his energy defensively, but his ability to be disruptive and get his hands on passes to be more physical with Anthony Edwards

Starting point is 00:09:23 than Gabe could when they were matched up together, harder to shoot over. It was just that is really to me where the game turned. Yeah, I want to also get into, I want to get into the way JJ used both Smart and Vando with the rotation. because he made an adjustment with the floor combinations that I thought worked extremely well. And if nothing else, I think is a blueprint for if, for whatever reason, smart or vando is not going to start. And it's going to be Gabe Vincent for the foreseeable future when LeBron gets back, whichever comes first. I thought JJ made a really good adjustment that helps make it more viable. So we can get into that coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:13:16 Gabe Vincent will likely continue to start. How much he plays and then how they kind of divvy up those minutes and behind that, though, is flexible. And JJ showed that on Friday. Well, one of the things that I've talked about in wanting either smart or Vando to get that starting knot is because, depending on how you configure the rotations, You could end up with long stretches with Vando and Smart together. And depending on who else is out there with them, and in the past it's been those,

Starting point is 00:13:52 as JJ referred to the Luca and the Banshees lineups, there just isn't enough offense. And we saw that against Golden State. We saw that at times last year. It's just too much of a lift on Luca. In this game, Smart and Vando played a lot together very effectively. But JJ did a good job making sure there were at least two higher-end. offensive players with them. There was a long stretch with Rui and Austin in the third quarter with Smart and Vando. Then in the fourth quarter you have Luca and Rui along with Jake Loravia on the

Starting point is 00:14:25 floor with Smart and Vando. So that felt very intentional in terms of making sure that you could keep those guys out there as a defensive foundation without losing your offense entirely. And if that's going to be the way that JJ goes about doing this moving forward, it remains to be seen if it can work game in, game out. You still might need a little more offense. It still, I think, would make more sense just to put one of them in the starting line to begin with. But this is a more viable solution than it had been done before.

Starting point is 00:15:00 So kudos to JJ, good adjustment. Yeah. And I, there were a lot of interesting combinations. And they were pretty liberal with getting guys on and off the floor and, you know, the three main subs off the bench, you know, pre-garbage time, Vando, La Ravia and Marcus Smart. La Ravio was sort of quiet in the box before, but I thought it was part of a lot of nice things on the floor. Those three guys each played over 20 minutes. And so, you know, when you're playing an eight-man rotation, Gabe played. minutes that, you know, he played fewer minutes in La Ravia.

Starting point is 00:15:40 Granada La Ravie got a couple extra in garbage time. But my point being like, you've got four guys who are going to get the bulk of the minutes from the starting lineup in Rui and Aiton and Donchich and Austin. That Vincent's spot isn't a 30 minute a night commitment. And I liked, they did all kinds of interesting. You know, you talked about Vando and Smart on the floor at the same time. small and very aggressive with that group. That's when they started switching everything.

Starting point is 00:16:12 Like we've seen that before, raise the level a little bit. You have Marcus Smart being really disruptive. And then they also played Vanderbilt with Aiton. They played smart with Aitin. Like they did that. And like in the third quarter, which you mentioned in the first segment we were getting to,

Starting point is 00:16:27 they got the ball early to Aiton. He became far more aggressive and far more energetic over the course of those final 24 minutes. I don't think he was. terrible in the first half, but what he felt to me, like, he felt tentative. He still felt unsure of like, I'm trying to time out my role, right? There were a couple times when he's like rolling to the basket, you can see him sort of looking at the guard going like, can I go yet? When do I? Like, the rhythm just wasn't there. I think in the second half, he just went. It was

Starting point is 00:16:56 like, go do things fast and we'll find you. And, you know, the energy. Then when you bring him in, It's like the game didn't slow down after the small lineup raised it back up. Aitin started going faster. And now you have like different looks and combos that you can throw at an opponent. Yeah. We've talked about this before with big men, there is often the tendency. Their energy level can be dictated by the amount of shots they get how involved they are in the offense. Shack famously said if you want the big dog to guard the porch, you got to feed him.

Starting point is 00:17:36 I'm not saying it's the way it should be. I'm just saying it's the way it often is. And, you know, sometimes just touching the ball, having it in your hands just makes you feel like you're more part of the game, more in the flow. It's also why. Again, as much as Luca in particular, the first quarter, but that first half was jaw-dropping, how incredible he was out there. it is not in the grand scheme of things a sustainable formula for this team. And it just puts too much pressure on Luke and frankly, it puts too little on all the other guys. And things really just started getting better for the whole team when the whole team felt more involved.

Starting point is 00:18:21 Aiton, I thought he did a very good job trying to be disruptive in the lane, challenging shots. Rui, this was a really good three-level scoring night from Rui. He was very aggressive attacking in a lot of different spots on the floor. And I actually thought he had several good defensive possessions as well. Again, like a lot of times just guys being more involved in the offense and being just more involved in the flow of things in general will get a better overall effort and a better overall result. And again, I don't think you can be said enough how much.

Starting point is 00:18:58 much the energy of Smart and Vando really shifted this game. They also got one of the things that we talked about on Friday and we can kind of for Friday show, the full show, we can wrap it here and get ready for Sunday into Monday, Sunday in Sacramento, Kings did get a win on Friday night. They beat the jazz by a point. So, you know, they're still working through some stuff up there as well. Marcus Smart at Thursday's practice talked about being the team that sets the rules. By that he means being physical and being the team that sort of imposes on the other.

Starting point is 00:19:38 Lakers didn't really do that early in the first quarter. They were being imposed upon. But as the game went along and Smart brought this energy in the second quarter, they did start to become more physical. And they were a team that, you know, battled better for rebounds and was more aggressive defensively and all these other things. And they need to, I think, create an identity that is a little bit around, is built around that kind of physicality and strength and a little bit of bullying

Starting point is 00:20:10 and things like that to the extent that they can because they got to find something that fits. I think this is something that can kind of fit them on nights when the offense, particularly on nights when the offense isn't quite as functional as it was on Friday. Like you say, like really, maybe can't get a couple jumpers to go or AR isn't as efficient. Like that kind of smart like identity, I think, could suit them. Yeah, it just, there's still a lot that needs to be drilled down upon like they were the first half, in particular, Minnesota was able to get a lot of what they wanted offensively.

Starting point is 00:20:53 They were killing the Lakers on the class, like killing them for the first half. And then the Lakers started doing better with that. And again, just kind of cranking up in all different areas. There's still things to get better. But this was really insofar as just adjusting and minding the details of what really went into the crapper on Tuesday. I thought the Lakers did a very good job. Also, this stat per the Lakers. With 40 plus points tonight versus Minnesota,

Starting point is 00:21:25 Luca Donchich becomes the first player in franchise history to record back-to-back 40-point games to start a season. He is the fourth player in NBA history to do so, joining Anthony Davis, Michael Jordan, and Wilk Chamberlain. So Luca is on a damn heater to begin this thing. Skinny Luca has yet to score less than 40 points. Su Luca, Luca Flaka, whatever you want to call him, dudes looking awesome.

Starting point is 00:21:52 He is. So we'll see a couple other, we really didn't get much into Reeves, bounce back from a, you know, the stats didn't look bad on Tuesday, but overall it wasn't a up and down game. It was erratic.

Starting point is 00:22:06 25 points, 9 and 15 from the floor, 5 of 5 from the line, seven rebounds, 11 assists. No complaints there. No, Austin had a good game.

Starting point is 00:22:16 You know, and it's just to me, the rebounding thing is going to be interesting for the Lakers and a challenge for them because it's going to be kind of hard for them, I think, to be a great rebounding team for the time being. But they certainly needed to be better than they were in the first quarter and they fixed it. And so all in all, an excellent way to spend a Friday night. It's certainly a nice little palate cleanser after what happened to the Dodgers. Lakers are in Sacramento on Sunday. We will obviously be here after that one's over to break it all down for you. Lock and Linkers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers. Leave us questions. Leave us comments.

Starting point is 00:22:56 We'll see everyone on Monday.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 49, Lakers Beat Minnesota 128-110 for First Win of the Season

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