Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 60 Points, LeBron Triple-Double Leads Lakers to 8th Straight Win

Starting point is 00:00:00 Luca Donchich drops 60 and the Lakers win again. 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 tuning in to Locked on Lakers. I'm Brian Kaminetsky with Andy Kamenetsky. So much to get into today, but do need to tell you first that today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create account, used a locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase.

Starting point is 00:00:41 A tremendous character win for the Lakers in Miami on Thursday night. Didn't get into Florida from their game in Houston until about 530. I think they got to their hotel. A lot of speculation as to whether or not these stars would even play in this game. They did for some very specific reasons. We'll talk about that before we're done. We'll talk about a LeBron James triple-dust. in front of his former home crowd in Miami.

Starting point is 00:01:10 But, Andy, I just feel like we might want to start with Luca Donchich, who dropped 40, looked pretty good in Houston on Wednesday night and was even more spectacular on Thursday, 60 points. And not just 60 points, man. Some of the shots Luca were making were ridiculous, like ridiculous in terms of degree. of difficulty, ridiculous in terms of audaciousness, and, like, ridiculous in a, you cannot stop him. You could tell Miami was just like, God damn, man.

Starting point is 00:01:50 Like, just after a while, you could feel them being like, this dude is not going to stop coming at us. Like, he just isn't. The last three hit in the fourth, I believe, I think it was his last three. he was wearing Davion Mitchell. He was a very good defender. And he was basically hugging him. Hugging him, not just hugging him,

Starting point is 00:02:18 hugging him close to the corner. So he's got very little space. He was twisting. He could have gone out of bounds. It actually took me a second to even realize that he shot the ball because he had it so little before the shot went up. And Mitchell was draped all over him to the point. It was like, wait a minute, what just happened?

Starting point is 00:02:39 Like, unreal display of shot making by Luca in this game, like you said, 60 points, 18 of 30 from the field, 9 of 17 from behind the arc. And again, some of these threes were difficult, deep, very contested, 19 trips to the line, made 15 of them. And the Lakers, particularly in the first half of this game and the first half, first quarter, the Lakers looked every bit like a group that arrived in Miami at five or five 30. Like the effort was there. It's not like they looked necessarily deadlegged. They looked like a group that had been woken up from mid-sleep, told to go play basketball in five minutes. And it's like they were playing in a fever dream state.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Like they didn't actually quite believe that this was reality as opposed to like one big collective dream or a simulation. It took them like a quarter and a half. And then I think really half time to get their bearings, get a second wind. They controlled the second half of this game. You know, the playmaking by LeBron and the overall, we're going to get into that, triple double. but Luca and, you know, the collective spirit of the team, the determination, Austin, after rough cut three quarters had some big shots down the stretch. He's clearly dealing with both fatigue and wrist injury on a shooting hand.

Starting point is 00:04:15 It should be noted he was the last of the three Lakers stars to be cleared for this game. It was a couple hours before game time when it was announced that Luca and LeBron were going to play. A.R. was basically game time. And so that says he was of the three of them, the diciest to go. And then, again, enough cannot be said about just the complete domination offensively from Luca. He also had five steals in this game. Like he was really disruptive defensively, continuing a trend. and the Lakers have now won eight straight games.

Starting point is 00:04:59 Again, other than maybe San Antonio, you can argue they are the hottest team going in the league right now, and they look exceptionally confident right now and exceptionally focused to throw up the cliches on a mission right now. Like they look like a team that really believes in what they can pull off right now. And like tonight, all three of them would have had, Luke of LeBron Reeves would have had a perfectly legit reason to take this game off. And it felt like, among other reasons, they were like, we got a good thing going.

Starting point is 00:05:35 We don't want to break any rhythm, any momentum of what. And you mentioned the top of the conference. Like the Lakers, San Antonio, and OKC are a collective 28 and 2 in their last 10, each of their last 10 games. you combine their records, 28 and 2 among those three teams. But you look at what the Lakers have been able to do relative to the rest of the conference over the Lakers last 10 games. Okay, haven't gained much on the top two teams, but they've gained three games plus the tiebreaker on Minnesota. They've gained five games plus the tiebreaker on Houston and four games plus the tiebreaker on Denver. So, you know, they finish Thursday's games.

Starting point is 00:06:23 And they've got a what amounts to a three game lead against Minnesota, who are going to be without Anthony Edwards for, you know, for a few games. A four game lead against the Rockets and a four game lead against Denver. And so, you know, this is, this is, you know, they are, you can't say, Andy, that they've put themselves in a position where they've got that three seed. but it is 100% their seed to lose at this point. Especially given how many games they've got left against the Supreme Tankers in the Western Conference. This was a game. We'll get to LeBron in a second, though,

Starting point is 00:07:06 that sometimes your superstar just delivers you a game. And your team gets in at 5.30 in the morning, all this stuff. This was a game like that. Luca delivered them a victory, not entirely single-handedly, but, you know, kind of. I don't want to say single-handedly just because. Right. You know what I mean, but like. No, no, no. I mean, just I don't want to diminish if nothing else, just the collective

Starting point is 00:07:34 determination of this team. For sure. Given the circumstances and, you know, LeBron had himself a hell of a year. He went for a long time 100% from the floor. Like, you know, his first seven shots. Yeah, continuation of what he did in Houston. as far as just supreme efficiency, finished 8 of 12, had a very, very strong game. But as far as the,

Starting point is 00:07:56 we are not going to lose this game because a superstar said, I'm going to will this in a very specific superstar way. Yeah, they got that from Luca tonight. Absolutely. It, there,

Starting point is 00:08:13 and the fun thing about, let me, not let me rephrase that, not very, the fun thing about it because there's more than one fun thing about it. A fun thing about this is watching how much Luca is enjoying what he's doing and the supreme level of confidence with which he is doing it. Because again, it's not just on the offensive side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:08:40 I mean, I think the Lakers in the first half defensively were just sort of trying to keep up. You mentioned it earlier in the segment. but like Luca, Luke is still working defensively through all this stuff. He is, he's dialed in, he's doing all the stuff.

Starting point is 00:08:52 And it's just, it is so much fun to watch a guy who knows that the other team can do nothing to keep him from getting to where the ball may not go in. Okay, fine. But like,

Starting point is 00:09:08 it's not going to go in because of them. I might make a mistake, but they're not doing anything. to stop me. And you can just see it. And it's so much fun and it's elevating the team. Well, the entertainment factor you're talking about, like, how much

Starting point is 00:09:23 fun it is. Lucas' teammates were incredibly excited. They all rushed him when the game was over. They knew it was 60. Like, he had an opportunity hit 61, but he missed one of the two free throws at the end. And you could see the entire bench, like, ah! Like, they were mad for

Starting point is 00:09:39 Lucas. Well, they were all like, who, when he got filed with 14 seconds left, they were like, oh, he's going to get it. But also, like, some of the entertainment factor and the fun is Luca, and he's always been known for jawing with the crowd, you know, talking to the court side fans. And he's now, because he's on just this incredible role, it's like he has to raise the showmanship of that every single game. He's gone from my merely talking to in this game, like after one of the threes, he was doing actual finger guns to the crowd. like a couple games from now, he's going to be like breaking out sparklers and props and doing like a can-can dance. 17 backflips on the way.

Starting point is 00:10:20 Yeah, I mean, like he's going to have to keep pressing this thing up. And I think he wants to. Like he is he is really leaning into the theater of it all. And to your point, it raises the spirits and the fun factor for his teammates. Like there is a real work hard, play hard thing going on right now. Yeah. I want to talk a little bit more about that. And we also, of course, have to talk about LeBron, who, again, they got in about 530,

Starting point is 00:10:50 proving that old people really don't need a lot of sleep. He had a spectacular game. We'll get into all that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by game time. There's nothing on being in an NBA arena, the crowd, the energy, the moment. Getting tickets, though, that part, not always so simple. And that's why game time has become the go-to app for scoring tickets fast without the hassle. it puts the advantage back where it belongs with the fans.

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Starting point is 00:12:45 Download the Robin Hood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps. Trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood Derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Okay, so before we get to LeBron and his performance and sort of what he's been doing over the last couple games, which is kind of cool,

Starting point is 00:13:13 I want to talk more about this swagger factor that LeBron has. We have seen it. LeBron or Luca? I'm sorry with Luca. So thank you. What happens when you have that guy? And look, I mean, LeBron who has been that guy for a long time. And many, many teams have shown up with LeBron on the floor knowing that, okay,

Starting point is 00:13:42 We've just got that guy and we can beat you. Even if you think you're better than us, even if you probably are better than us, we can beat you. LeBron broke up the Toronto Raptors. Like for real. Like he was the straw that broke the Raptors back in terms of breaking up the DeMara de Rose and Kyle Lowry backcourt, which everyone knew had some inherent shortcomings,

Starting point is 00:14:07 but they also were regularly going deep into playoff runs until Lebronto would show up and knock him out. I mean, that series against the Warriors. I mean, it's just like, there's some insane things, you know, that he's able to do. Lakers fans obviously remember what the confidence that you felt going into a playoff series with Prime Shaq or with Prime Kobe. Like, you just, you know that even if the other team is theoretically on paper better than you, you still have a chance to win because you got those guys.

Starting point is 00:14:40 Luca is that. Luca is, you know, at the level he's been playing over the last, you know, JJ talked about it. You know, you can pick your date. He's saying he thinks Luca's been, you know, at this truly ascendant elite level for about six weeks over the last six weeks or so. Which, okay. You know, not like he was bad before, but it is different. And, you know, you talk about a team that's peaking. You talk about a team that's putting a little bit of distance between themselves.

Starting point is 00:15:10 and the other teams, you know, sort of quality teams in the West, every game they play from here on out where Luca is playing like this, and I don't just mean 60 points, I just mean MVP caliber. Like you just know it, gives the Lakers X percentage better chance of winning just because they know we've got that guy. I think also too, it really affects the Lakers down the stretch of games. Like knowing that you have Luca and also somebody like LeBron who is one of the best, you know, late game dissectors of defenses, you know, the ability to see things as they're happening, diagnose it like in real time, like two guys like that. this was another game where in crunch time, the Lakers executed well and give them credit.

Starting point is 00:16:11 They've been doing that all season. But also, like there was one point I tweeted out at Cam Brothers. Are the Lakers really this good in crunch time, like clutch time? Or is everyone else just this bad? Because we saw both games in Houston, them falling apart down the stretch. Denver has not played well down the stretch against the Lakers. and they have been a good clutch time team all year. In the last couple minutes of minutes or so of this game,

Starting point is 00:16:38 you had terrible files down the stretch by Bam, Atabio, basically just faced up against Luca, like putting his hand on his shoulder, immediate file. Like, what are you doing? Davion Mitchell had a bad foul. Norm Powell had a bad foul. There was an awful turnover by Tyler Hero as the heat are trying to get themselves back into this thing.

Starting point is 00:16:59 I'm just watching this going like, the Lakers really they are really that much better like down the stretch and I know before they've been doing it all year but before they were often just coming together down the stretch against bad teams they had not done it as many times against good teams and some of these otherwise good teams they have not been good in the last five minutes of these games at all well I here are a few things about this and I actually think at least to some degree this is related a little bit to to what Luca is doing. You remember, like, when teams used to play the prime spurs, they used to play the prime warriors or something like that. And you know, like, especially down the stretch, like, these guys are just like, like, they just keep dialing up the pressure and dialing it.

Starting point is 00:17:47 Like, you have to be perfect. You have to push. You know, because you know Steph's going to make a three. You know Clay is going to make a three. You know, Draymond's going to make a great pass to somebody for an easy layup or whatever might be. You know, it's like that when you have Luca, who is turning up the pressure the way they is.

Starting point is 00:18:04 And you have closers like LeBron. And you have a closer like Austin, who has had a lot of games where he started really slow. And we'll talk about if not in a lot in this show, I think we do need to talk about how he's played in the last goal games. Maybe we'll do that for the short show on Friday. But you feel like you need to constantly make play. And that puts a lot of pressure on a team, especially like Luca right now is playing in a way where he is a bad possession bailout guy.

Starting point is 00:18:42 Like the Lakers are able, even when they execute, great. But even when they don't execute, Luca's bailing them out of a lot of possessions just because his shot making is so good. The possession where he had that bucket, you know, we talked about in the first segment where Mitchell was inside. his jersey was a terrible, terrible possession. But they ended up with a bucket out of it because Luca gets wherever he wants on the floor or failing that just makes absurd shots. And I also think, too, you know, teams have not been able to figure out how right now to keep him out of the paint. And, you know, he's so destructive when he's in there in terms of drawing fouls or pulling defenses.

Starting point is 00:19:31 I think those two things are related is sort of what I'm getting at. You're right. I mean, there are times when the Lakers, you know, it's difficult down the stretch of tight games, no matter who you are, even championship teams. We've covered three championship teams up close. They had their difficulties in the closing minutes. I mean, that's where things really tighten up. The mistakes can really kill you, all that stuff.

Starting point is 00:20:01 And you're right, Luca's ability to bail out bad possessions is an incredible weapon. But I'm talking more, though, just purely about this is a talking point I've had over the last week or so, the composure element. Like they just seem like the more composed team, even when possessions aren't going well, they don't seem to make as many, dude, you can't do that type of mistakes as opposed to just difficulty. finding an open guy, difficulty moving the ball, finding a good shot. Like there's a difference between late game execution problems like that versus just brain cramp after brain cramp after brain cramp. Well, it's just, it's, you know, it does help to have two supercomputers. Like LeBron, sure.

Starting point is 00:20:49 LeBron may not be what he was, you know, even a couple of years ago at this point. You could start to see some of the, the impacts or whatever, but he very rarely makes bad decisions. almost still almost never makes a bad decision with the ball we might make a mistake but you know bad dribble slightly errant pass although those are pretty rare too and lucca doesn't make a lot of bad decisions like when he's when lucca is locked in and not kind of out of round he doesn't make a lot of poor choices either and those guys have the ball like you know and you know austin you're the guy that's been prone to the most mistakes uh you know austin at a couple terrible turnovers in that first Houston game, you know, that they overcame them. You know, he makes or the Denver game that went to overtime. Right. I think that might be what I'm thinking of. Yeah, that's what I was thinking of was the Denver game.

Starting point is 00:21:44 You know, so I think that's part of it. Most teams don't have two of those guys on the floor. And then, you know, we've, that clutch gene thing, we've talked about it. Like, I think in a lot of ways, clutch is sort of the absence of jokes. And when guys just, I don't think the Lakers get tight, I think other teams maybe get a little tight. The Lakers, I'm not sure they elevate, but by staying basically the same, then they raise a level. Let's talk about, let's talk about, let's talk about the grit of everybody getting on the floor in this game next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Indeed, you got workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, the inbox is overflowing,

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Starting point is 00:24:53 finishing in transition and at the rim all night long in Miami it was a little bit different there were a few more jumpers mixed in. There were a couple turnarounds and stuff like that. But the Lakers are, you know, really have found a way and are committed to getting him the ball deeper into possessions where he catches it on the move, where he is not playing against a set defense. And you know that he knows, he can process faster where the play it needs to go than the other team can. And in terms of defending him. And, you know, if Wednesday was sort of this version of LeBron on steroids,

Starting point is 00:25:40 Thursday was a pretty fully realized version of it as well, just in terms of where his shots came from and all that. And that's before you get to the rebounds and the assists part of the triple double. Yeah, he's really doing a good job again, often putting himself in good position to score. There was a great sequence where he had like a very deep early seal that I want to say Austin fed him for. There was also a play. And Stu and Billy actually noted. They're like, I don't think I've ever seen this before.

Starting point is 00:26:15 Austin inbounded to LeBron, who was already streaking down court, basically like a quarterback hitting a wide receiver. Like the minute the ball was snapped, except that's not. typically how an inbound works. Like I don't know if I've ever seen that either, but he is continuing to find ways to get his shots much easier without necessarily having to do all the work himself. And then tonight was an area where he could focus work in other spots, the 10 assists against just three turnovers.

Starting point is 00:26:54 He had 15 rebounds. It was funny too. There was one sequence where LeBron, missed a shot around the rim. He thought he got foul, but Luca got the offensive rebound, put it back. And I tweeted out at Ham Brothers, like, that should count as a Kobe assist for Luca because it would have got, it got Luca his 50 burger.

Starting point is 00:27:14 At that point, he was getting up to 50. And that would have been the 10th assist for LeBron. So he would have gotten his triple double. Like everybody wins. Just score it that way. Turned out LeBron's 10th assist was for a Luca bucket, a three-pointer. Which, by the way, was astonishing. It's like you talk about poor execution from the heat.

Starting point is 00:27:35 Like that was a great example of it. Like how on earth, I understand LeBron's a weapon with the ball. He got to pay attention. How on earth was there no one within six feet of Luca when he caught that ball? And Luca was like, all right, I'll take three right here. I mean, might as well. But I mean, fair, he only had, I think, 51 or 52 at the time. So maybe they didn't think he really fully. heated up yet. But you know, LeBron's 19 points,

Starting point is 00:28:03 8 to 12 from the field, 0-3s. And only, you know, five trips to the line is not excessive for LeBron. It's not nothing. But either way, it really just speaks to. He's just getting a lot done inside. And if he gets good position down low, like,

Starting point is 00:28:21 you're not going to stop him for the most part. Like, you know, he may miss a bunny every now and then, but for the most part, if he gets you down there, you're cooked. You know, if he gets the ability to host up and then get fed the ball, like he will either get himself to the basket or dissect the play, make a pass, find an open man, swing, swing, whatever.

Starting point is 00:28:44 But the lack of exertion that now is part of the game plan for LeBron, it's just bringing out this version of him that I think is actually very sustainable because it is appropriate for where. he is at this stage of his career. Yeah, they've found a way to really lighten his load off the bench in a significant way. Now, it adds to Austin's workload, and I think he's feeling it. Again, I think we'll talk about that maybe later on Friday, but that's a separate issue.

Starting point is 00:29:18 And if one of those two guys has to carry that extra load, it should be Austin. And that's something he's going to have to adjust to. but I just it is part of all of a sudden anyway it's going to prompt if the Lakers finish the season strong win around push San Antonio or Oklahoma City in round two even if they lose but you know have that strong stretch run and really make a series out of it against one of these you know elite elite elite teams I think the two best teams in basketball

Starting point is 00:29:55 one and two in the conference right now. It changes the conversation about next summer and what the Lakers look like coming back next year because the argument has always been the biggest thing, it's not just the money, it's that the combination doesn't work. If the combination works, then it's just a question of money.

Starting point is 00:30:21 And it's a question of everybody kind of... I don't think it's entirely a question of money. I think it's also a question of you have to start building long term. And if you have the ability to find longer term pieces, I think that is a factor in all this. Those are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I don't disagree. I'm just saying it's not simply a factor of money. That's all I'm saying.

Starting point is 00:30:43 Sure. But like the before it didn't, even if the money was perfect, like the money made time, it didn't make sense to bring LeBron back because it didn't work on the floor. If it works on the floor and works well, it changes the equation entirely, particularly if it works well in a way that seems to help make the Lakers an elite team with the possibility of really improving significantly in the offseason. So there's just there's so much happening now with this shift in what the Lakers are doing. but for the time being, it has helped turn them into an enormously fun team to watch, an enormously successful team. And now one where all of us can be like, how cool is it that they've got LeBron, or I'm sorry, Luca,

Starting point is 00:31:40 LeBron and Austin Reeves all playing on the same time? This team should be a lot of fun. And finally it is. I mean, they'd had their intermittent fun at times. They certainly were a lot of fun to start the season. But not with all three of them. I was going to say that was the version without LeBron. I mean, look, if you really truly believe in this team enough to think that they could win a championship,

Starting point is 00:32:01 if they actually did that, it would not surprise me in the slightest. If LeBron said, I am going out on a high note, and that's it for me. Like, I'm going to retire with a championship. Like, I'm not saying it's prediction. If they want a chip, I actually think that could happen. I think there is a very non-zero percent chance because, you know, something we talked about when we covered Kobe. And Kobe's Achilles injury changed the math on all of this because I think at that point, he was on a mission to prove that he could actually get himself back. But before pre-Aquillies, I used to say all the time, we cover the team for the LA Times and ESPN, that I always suspected Kobe would retire before people suspected versus after, simply because start.

Starting point is 00:32:47 Stars often don't want to be seen as ever vulnerable. And as great as, as amazing as it is that LeBron is still able to do this at his age, he has shown more vulnerability than in the past. And the potential for vulnerability is only going to rise the older that he gets. You know, I mean, he did start the season with sciatica. If they won a championship, that would be a storybook way to say goodbye. but let's not get ahead of ourselves. They've got to win a few rounds in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:33:20 Neither one of us are saying they're like are making that leap, but the fact that you could even say that, like, but again, I'm not saying. If Luca is, I know, but you can even float the idea.

Starting point is 00:33:37 I just want to make it clear to the, I know you're not. I'm not saying. I know you're not. But let me, let me just, I will say this. In any given,

Starting point is 00:33:46 series. If Luca is playing like this, they can beat anybody because Luca is playing like this. If he's at this level, there is no series that the Lakers can't win, particularly if, you know, Austin plays well and LeBron is healthy. They've got to get their healthy. They've got to wrap things up with that three seed. There's a lot of work still left to be But when Luca is this good, and I would say that about any star, when you have one of these guys who is this good, you can win any series. Lakers are, I can only suspect, going to relax between now and an early game on Saturday in Orlando. These guys really can't catch a break. At least it's not a long trip. So we'll be back with our shorter segment on Friday.

Starting point is 00:34:44 and get you ready as well for Saturday's game. Locked on Lickers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 37,000, darn near 38,000 subscribers to the channel. Do check out the Everydayer Club. Find out if it's for you. It's all the information in the show notes. We'll see you tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Scores 60 Points, LeBron Triple-Double Leads Lakers to 8th Straight Win

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