Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Drops 30, LeBron 22 but Lakers Lose in New York... James Named to All-Star Team

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers offense goes cold in New York. And meanwhile, did LeBron James get an all-star nod he didn't deserve? The debate is already beginning. That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day,

Starting point is 00:00:30 Monday through Friday, sometimes on weekends, Andy, and even the occasional holiday, no matter how. where you get your podcasts. It could be Apple. You might be a Spotify person. Maybe you're one of the 37,000 plus subscribers to the Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel, no matter how you do it. You're a part of making the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Starting point is 00:00:49 The number one sports podcast network in this or any other universe. I'm Brian Kaminetsky with Andy Kaminetsky, almost two decades now covering the Lakers for ESPN, for the LA Times, for the athletic. And in all of that time, Andy LeBron James has been an All-Star. And he is again this year. The NBA's reserves for the Eastern and Western Conference were put out on Peacock. It's part of the big pomp and circumstance with a new media partner. So that happened on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:01:19 LeBron James was named a reserve for the Western Conference, keeping his streak alive of being named to teams. But whether he deserved it or not is a different question, which we will get to momentarily after we talk about the game itself, Andy, because 112-100 in what some speculate might be LeBron's final trip to Madison Square Garden, the offense betrayed the Lakers, to say the least. Yeah, down the stretch of this game in the second half, like the last three or four minutes of the third quarter and then the opening five or so minutes of the fourth quarter,

Starting point is 00:01:58 it really stalled out. Like the Lakers did not score a point for something. something like the opening five minutes, give or take of the fourth quarter. That is just deadly. You had 12 combined points from Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia in the starting lineup. Landry Shamet outscored the entire Lakers bench in terms of points accumulated during the minutes that actually mattered by himself. I thought as the game went along, they increasingly started to ignore DeAndre Aiton. He opened 4-4 in the first quarter, ended up 6 of 6 for the game.

Starting point is 00:02:44 He had a usage of 0.0 in the third quarter. Like other than getting fed on a pick and roll and then immediately filed, it was non-shooting foul, so side out. I don't remember him touching the ball at all in the third quarter. Like I went back and rewatch some of it and didn't see any of it. And I mentioned this, A, because the stats really hold the more D'Andre Aiton is involved. And, you know, something like when these 15 points, 10 rebounds or 15 points, the Lakers win 80-ish percent of their games, something like that. but also too, I think Aiton is sometimes just a bellwether for how much are they actually running an offense.

Starting point is 00:03:34 And the less involved Aiton is, I think it hurts them on a few different levels. And I think we saw it in this game tonight. I want to let people know that today's episode's brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Yeah, I mean, I agree with you. It's, you know, I think the Aiton stuff is, it was certainly symptom. of the way things went. I mean, I don't want to make it sound like the Lakers were cruising offensively in the first

Starting point is 00:04:03 half because it wasn't. It was a really raggedy kind of disjointed game with sloppy play from both sides, I think. You know, the Lakers had some terrible possessions. The NICs had some terrible possessions. Both teams, I think, were playing very, very hard, but not necessarily very, very effectively. The difference to me, like, you know, you come out. of the break. The Lakers go into halftime with lead.

Starting point is 00:04:29 By the way, the final score 112 to 100. Lakers come out in the third quarter and where New York started to get a little flow, started to figure out how to beat the Lakers zone that was legitimately frustrating them in the first half. And they sort of figured it out by finding holes that weren't Jalen Brunson shooting. You know, the Lakers actually did a decent job containing Brunson for a lot of the game, did a less good job as the game went along and containing everybody else. When New York started to get a little groove and make their push, the Lakers just didn't have an answer.

Starting point is 00:05:10 You know, LeBron was pretty good, 22 points, 9 and 15. Luca did his best keep the team in the game. But the supporting cast was invisible. You mentioned those numbers from Jake and Marcus. Marcus Smart in the starting lineup. It's even worse if you break down the supporting cast from three point range. LeBron and Luca together seven of 20, which is not great,

Starting point is 00:05:36 but it's not catastrophic. La Ravia, smart, Rui and Jared Vanderbilt from three point range were a combined three of 18. That is catastrophic. Yeah, I mean, I think LeBron and Lucas were pretty bad.

Starting point is 00:05:52 I mean, they were pretty, no, I didn't say it was good, But you think you know that if the rest of the guys aren't three for 18. No, I, well, they were about 20-ish percent there are, you know, around about themselves. I mean, they were not, they were at that. There was seven of 20.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Right. At that high of a volume, I think that's pretty damaging as well. I mean, you can argue that the supporting cast made it worse. My point was more, I think, the three-point shooting across the team. I wouldn't. I wouldn't leave LeBron and Luca out of it. That's all. I'm not trying to leave them out of it.

Starting point is 00:06:27 I'm just saying that the two of them, you know, if you have to have for your offense to function, you need to be able to have some kind of secondary shooting around to force defenses to lay off your star players, particularly to allow Luca to have enough space to be able to do stuff. And if you're if you're not getting anything else, you know, because, you know, LeBron, while he was two of six from three point range, again, not, not, you know, it's fine on that kind of volume. He was nine of 15 from the floor. He's pretty efficient. You know, Jake was two of seven. Smart was two of nine. It's not a good game for Jake on both sides of the point. I actually thought Jake was really struggling in this game. Like,

Starting point is 00:07:21 Typically, if nothing else, the games where Jake isn't shooting well, you can count on him to hit the glass. You can count on him to defend both disruptively and effectively in terms of who he's guarding. And this just was a game where he really struggled. You know, Rui was five for 11, but the one of five from three hurts. And Jared Vanderbilt didn't have a field goal. And, you know, he was, you know, his typical active self defensively working hard. and all that stuff. But, you know, against good teams, your supporting group needs to be able to provide some

Starting point is 00:07:59 stuff. And, you know, this is one of those days where it's like, hey, it could have used Austin Reeves. And, you know, the Lakers announced before the game started. He was not going to play in this one. And we are running out of road trip for the Lakers to get Austin Reeves back on the floor. I got to say, and you and I talked about this, I don't know, maybe after like the second or third game of the road trip because that whenever whenever jj said during either a pre or post or practice or whatever that austin was after the clipper game or something between the clipper game

Starting point is 00:08:33 and when they actually left town right something like that but j j j said that austin was getting pretty close he was playing in this five on five and the stay ready games and full contact and then they upgraded into questionable. And I said at the time, that makes me feel like they are pretty confident. They're going to put him on the floor. They said they expected him. JJ said we expect him to play on the trip. Right.

Starting point is 00:09:00 I know that. It wasn't even like he's trending the right way. He flat out said, we expect him to play on the trip. Right. And like, as I said at the time, the reason that gave me a lot of confidence about Austin being back is this team, at least as of late, and maybe JJ hasn't quite gotten the memo as a relatively new guy on how this team handles injury news and injury process. But they tend to leave things open-ended in ways that don't pin them down for somebody's return.

Starting point is 00:09:35 They have, if nothing else, if Austin does not play against the nets, even if there is no true setback, they just set themselves up for aggravating fans. I have no idea how much the players are expecting Austin to come back, and it becomes deflating for them as well. But there's been an awful lot of warming up game time decision not playing, for I've upgraded into questionable in the first place. And it just, if nothing else gets back to the general questions and complaints we've had about how this team handles, I guess, both the rehabbing of injuries, the day-to-day medical side of

Starting point is 00:10:22 injuries, but also the messaging of injuries. It is just not a strength of this organization. Yeah, and it emphasizes what the team might need as we get closer to the trade deadline, which is, of course, this week. So you need Austin come back. You need to think about what the team could do at the deadline, whether or not they can shore up some of this offensive inconsistency.

Starting point is 00:10:44 So that is going to be a key theme that we discuss over the course of the week. And then of course the big news, LeBron James, named to the Western Conference All-Star team. That is something we will break down because the response to it has been understandably

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Starting point is 00:12:50 the work and the effort, and I think they were, the energy was there. They, they are being betrayed. The defense gets a lot of the headlines, but they are, I think, just as often being betrayed by their inability to score consistently than they are their inability to defend. And, you know, one side gets the attention, both sides can be problematic. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we've talked before about how this team's offense often dictates the efficiency of their defense, whether you're talking about avoiding turnovers or fast break points, you know, teams running off makes and misses, you know, misses especially, but even makes, like the, depending on the quality of shot, all that different stuff. And I think this team, this team often gets juiced, I think, off really good defensive stands.

Starting point is 00:13:47 And, you know, they, they forced the Knicks into a few 24-second violations. They played pretty, until the offense completely collapsed, they were neck-in-neck. With New York, by the way, has been, you know, there are, you know, the Lakers aren't the first team. The Knicks have shut down recently. They've been, you know, I think they came into the game having won four straight. all of that on the defensive side of the ball. But, you know, you still got to, you know, you still got to be able to compete with your opponent.

Starting point is 00:14:16 Yeah, they just, the offense is supposed to be the thing that elevates the Lakers. Like, it's supposed to be the thing that brings out the best version of them. And however high you think their ceiling is, whatever's going to propel them as far as they can go in the playoffs, the defense is the thing that you hope can catch up to the offense, at least in theory, with the

Starting point is 00:14:44 players on this roster. And when the offense isn't working, it puts a lot of pressure on this defense, not just because at that point you're forced to defend better, but you are forced to rely on a lot of non-strengths of this offense. It just, it becomes really deflating for the guys out there. I think also it starts bringing out some of the worst instincts and habits of LeBron and Luca when they don't see the offense working. I think sometimes it leads both of them into hero ball mode. And I don't think it brings out the best in the offense in general or not, I don't want to say it doesn't bring out the best in them as individuals, particularly Luca because I mean we've seen Luca save this team over the course of a quarter or even a half

Starting point is 00:15:38 playing what some people would consider Hero Ball. But it's taxing after a while. And it it becomes more predictable for teams to defend. Like as great of a player as Luca is and he is one of at worst the five best players in this league, no argument. Even Luca can start becoming predictable. Well, it doesn't make him easy to defend. It just makes everything predictable. There's a big difference. It gets to kind of the like this is a debate that happens with every star player who is surrounded by sort of inconsistent supporting talent.

Starting point is 00:16:21 Like when is Hero Ball? Hero Ball and when is it like the I kind of have to do it myself. We've experienced this at different times with LeBron, depending on the supporting cast. Certainly it was an issue with some of the Kobe teams that he was on. Like, is, am I being selfish or am I, you know, am I getting frustrated? Am I taking the, or am I really the only option? And so, you know, at different points in this game that kind of straddled that line, you guys are just not going to mean, La Ravia was really bad.

Starting point is 00:16:55 And not that you depend. on Vando for this sort of thing, but his three-corner-threes looked like they were shot out of a cannon. There were some of the worst he's taken in a while, despite being wide open. So it was a very frustrating night you could tell for all of them. And look, that's going to happen.

Starting point is 00:17:17 Again, the Knicks have been a very good defensive team, certainly over the last couple weeks. And this is their six win in a row. Yeah, they're playing well, but they're playing particularly well defensively. And so, you know, the Lakers were going to need to figure out ways to score and also to defend and what they, you know, would hope to be a low scoring game. It looked like it was going to be.

Starting point is 00:17:40 But we'll see how they work this out. But they, again, emphasizes some of their needs going to the trade deadline, emphasizes the need to get Austin Reeves back. What was your reaction, Andy, when you heard the news that LeBron was named of the All-Star team? I was not surprised. We'll get into more of this in terms of the details, breaking down why. I'm not surprised. But LeBron had, I think, been considered kind of a bubble candidate, like a bubble reserve,

Starting point is 00:18:12 like sort of on that border with a lot of other guys, not just LeBron, to be clear. But I think a guy like LeBron, if he is legitimately on the bubble, when you start factoring in everything he's meant to the league, you know, the historic nature of every time he makes another all-star game, and the fact that this could potentially be the last all-star game that he ever plays in and assuming LeBron manages to get through, knock on wood, the next two games without an injury, it becomes the last all-star game that at the very least they can plan on LeBron being able to participate in. Because even if LeBron plays next year and manages to play a reasonable amount of games, whether that's his final season or not, you can't plan.

Starting point is 00:19:07 I mean, it's hard to plan around injuries in this league, period, even for guys in their prime. But for a guy in his 40s who is currently battling right foot joint arthritis and started out the season with sciatica, it really becomes. more difficult to plan out. So we'll get into more of the particulars that I think made LeBron a legitimate bubble candidate as opposed to a charity case. But no, I am not surprised at all, really. It's interesting. So the full list of reserves in the Western Conference, it was Denny Aviya, Devin Booker,

Starting point is 00:19:47 Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, Chad Holmgren, Jamal Murray, and LeBron. And, you know, certainly those other guys, I mean, Avia was 100% expected. Booker 2, especially given how good Phoenix has been. Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant. Ant has been great. And almost made the starters. I mean, he came extremely close to making the starters. Yeah, and is a fringy MVP candidate.

Starting point is 00:20:15 Like there's no way he's not going to be there. Exactly. Chet has been spectacular since, you know, that little early season injury, you know, issue or whatever it was. but, you know, been in a line up. He's been fantastic. And so you want to try to figure out, especially too, Oklahoma City's been too good almost to have only one guy there. And Jamal Murray has been spectacular,

Starting point is 00:20:37 especially even helping keep the team the Nuggets float without Yokic for, you know, a long stretch of time. None of those guys are surprising. And I agree with you, I wasn't surprised by LeBron. To me, it raises a question, though, like you say, I wonder if the league isn't not just concerned, but I don't want to get too conspiracy theory. But like, you almost like know something that the rest of us don't, that if you want to get LeBron in one more All-Star game, you may not have an option next year or not because who knows if he's hurt, but he may not be playing. Like it's going to raise speculation, I think, to that this is a legacy pick more than anything. Because I think we'll talk about this next.

Starting point is 00:21:33 When you get to the question of should he be on the team, it's a stickier thing to answer. So we'll get to that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by game time. There's nothing like being in an NBA arena. the crowd, the energy, the moment. Getting tickets, though, that part hasn't always been so simple. And that's why GameTime has become the go-to app for scoring tickets fast without the hassle. It puts the advantage back where it belongs with you, the fan, regain your power.

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Starting point is 00:24:17 Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com slash lockdown MBA. That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P dot com slash locked-on NBA. So, aside from being a monument to the idea that all-star rosters ought to be expanded, the idea that LeBron would be a legacy pick, I think, is what a lot of people were expecting. And I do think it's fair to say, like over the last month, he's played All-Star caliber. basketball. He's put up all-star caliber numbers. You know, averaging,

Starting point is 00:25:01 you know, 23, 24 points a game, six rebounds, six assists. Like, you know, the numbers have been there. But if you start comparing the numbers, Andy, I think, for the whole month, or sorry, for the whole season, for the 31 games now, I believe he's played.

Starting point is 00:25:17 And then compare it to guys like James Hart, who has played more games and has been statistically, I think, arguably better. I think Kauai Leonard, who has played more games than LeBron and has been statistically better. Alperin Shengoon in Houston, you start breaking this stuff down. And there are three or four guys at the least who have stronger paper resumes than LeBron. They may. I mean, remember, a lot of this went down, some of the voting and things like that when Kauai had missed a ton of games.

Starting point is 00:25:54 and that's going to factor into some of the early returns voting, which I think influenced how a lot of this shook out afterwards. And I remember when the starters were announced, and we talked then about like is LeBron's streak of, obviously making the starters, that's been broken, but is this streak of making All-Star games going to be broken? And I went through how the actual voting broke down. And this was, I'm guessing, three weeks a month ago,

Starting point is 00:26:24 something like that. But LeBron was eighth overall in the West when you combined media vote, fan vote, and player vote. He was eighth among players, eighth among fans, ninth among media. And

Starting point is 00:26:40 he has some of the fringier guys you mentioned, or some of the guys on that bubble, Kauai Leonard, Danny Obdia, Devin Booker, Albert Shingoon, Jamal Murray, Like to whatever degree you think media voting matters, they got basically the same amount of media votes.

Starting point is 00:27:01 LeBron was higher among his peers in terms of player voting to the ones, I guess, who took it seriously enough to care. The ones who didn't vote for Brani? Right. But the reserves are, I mean, so are you saying that like the, because it's a coaches nomination. But I'm sure. The reserves. Like, no, I understand that. But I'm saying I think this is instructive in terms of.

Starting point is 00:27:23 how you view all of this. I'm not saying that I think it, I'm not saying that the coaches took a look at the spreadsheets and decided what to do. I'm saying that I think it's instructive in looking at the overall picture, which again, to me goes back to, I think LeBron was kind of a fringe all-star this season. And whenever you're figuring out who's going to make it among the fringe guys, you're going to be looking at different factors to break a tie. And if a tie has, is being broken by the idea of it is possibly the last all-star game for arguably the greatest player in NBA history that we can, again, go two games without an injury, guarantee he's going to be able to participate. I'm cool with that breaking the tie. It's an all-star game. By definition,

Starting point is 00:28:17 that means you are showcasing your stars. LeBron is one of the best. biggest stars in the league or who has ever been in the league. I'm good with it. Yeah, I mean, you and I are not all-star precious. Precious. Precious. Preciousists. Where this gets sort of tricky and annoying. I think he's, I think he is a fringe, but worthy fringe all-star this season. That is the way I'd put it. I think he's a fringy all-star. There's always going to be a few fringy all-stars who make the team for whatever reason, if this happened to play into LeBron being selected this year, which I don't even think there's any. I mean, look, if you're just saying, if you're, if you're just lining up, who have been

Starting point is 00:29:06 the, what is it, 12 best players in the Western conference this year, you don't put LeBron on that list. Probably not. No. No. I mean, like he got to, he's in because he's LeBron. And that is. I'm not saying he's been bad.

Starting point is 00:29:22 If you're asking who are the top 20, he's been in the top 20. But here's the finish. But it only, it only matters like, because these things start to matter for like how players, it's like on the one hand,

Starting point is 00:29:38 it's an all-star game. And I agree with you. I don't, I don't consider it that big a deal anymore. But like how we judge players and people and stuff, it kind of still sort of is. And so it does get a little tricky for leaving, you know, and like I said, I wonder if there was any kind of like, hey, who's because it's a Mitch Johnson, right, who's supposed to who's coaching the team.

Starting point is 00:30:10 I think is. I forget who is. I don't even know what the team is. There's like three teams. I don't even know what that. I don't know what that means. I forget who the coaching is. I wonder if there was a little bit of a, you know, a text message or an email or something it was sent was like, hey, let's make sure LeBron James is part of the festivities this weekend. And my initial instinct when I heard this news was I really like there are lots of these little clues that start to happen where you wonder if you actually, there is a larger possibility than I think some people like to entertain that LeBron won't play next year, that he might quit after this year. You and I always keep this possibility

Starting point is 00:30:59 live. A lot of people, particularly those who aren't big LeBron fans, assume that he's going to want, you know, and will insist upon the giant farewell tour because he's LeBron and he, you know, the ego demands it. I just think there's a lot of reason, a lot of scenarios in which he doesn't come back and play. And little things like this make me think it's more possible. Look, it's always been a live possibility.

Starting point is 00:31:26 We've said, this is the first time in LeBron's career where he truly cannot know exactly what's going on moving forward or can't have a pretty good idea. Like maybe he doesn't know the exact details. If he's got, you know, LeBron's always been pretty good at controlling his NBA future and having a lot of power over it because he's earned that ability. But he can't, to large degrees, plan moving forward. Because at his age, I don't care you take of your body. I don't care what kind of physical specimen you are.

Starting point is 00:32:05 We've already seen. I mean, frankly, his Lakers career has featured more injuries than, like, the previous 15 years probably doubled. Like, he's had so many more injuries. over the eight years that he's been with the Lakers, as remarkable as it is how he's produced and how often he actually has been available. He's had way more injuries, including the sciatica at the beginning of the season.

Starting point is 00:32:33 That's a reminder of, do I think in a perfect world, LeBron would want a farewell tour? Yeah, I do. He both likes the spotlight and he's earned it. Like, if anybody's earned it, it's LeBron. but I think something like the Seattle. I think he could play all 82 games or close to it. He'd take the tour.

Starting point is 00:32:53 I was going to say, but something like the sciatica to start this season is a reminder of you can't control it. Yeah. Like when Kobe did his farewell tour, you know, there were compensations made mainly. He took a lot of home games off, which sucked, I guess, for a lot of Laker fans in L.A., who obviously get more opportunities to see him here, but that assumes you can afford to take six or seven shots at this, but they managed to get Kobe through that season. But remember, there were no stakes to the season other than just getting Kobe through it.

Starting point is 00:33:28 If you start announcing a farewell tour while you're on a team that theoretically would have stakes, because otherwise I don't know why LeBron would keep playing, and there's all this focus on a farewell tour that maybe has starts and stops because of your availability and health, And then that starts becoming a story and it starts becoming a story that maybe overshadows your team trying to win a championship. Then all of a sudden, that farewell tour feels like a completely egocentric, narcissistic way to end your career. And LeBron's not going to want that. And, you know, you talk about the, you know, not just no stakes for Kobe's team. There were no stakes for Kobe because it was pretty well accepted at that point that Kobe was kind of broken.

Starting point is 00:34:16 He could conjure it up every so often, but everybody, including Kobe, understood that he wasn't anywhere close, whereas LeBron has held a standard to where you can credibly argue, I guess, that he's an All-Star in his age 41 season. So it will emphasize what we'll be doing around the trade deadline and how good this team is going to be, what they're going to be going forward. That was a big topic of conversation. You mentioned conspiracy theories about whether or not the league knows something about LeBron and therefore they're putting him in this All-Star game.

Starting point is 00:34:57 You could also wonder if a conspiracy theory was leave Kauai off the All-Star team. So there's one less thing to remind us to the aspiration. You can argue. But, yeah, you're right. You do wonder if Kauai is being punished for it. And Hardin. James Hardens like, what did I do?

Starting point is 00:35:18 But you don't want clippers, reminding you of who? Well, it is in their building, Andy. I know, but I'm saying they can't do anything about that. But maybe if we all try hard enough, we can forget that this is the Clippers building. It's only around a few years. A lot of people don't be. That is an interesting point. There's a 50-50 chance the average NBA fan has no idea what the Intuit Dome is.

Starting point is 00:35:42 That's true. And meanwhile, if that's true, Alper and Schengun's been like, I plant trees in my spare time all the time with very little fanfare. But yeah, so we'll be focusing on the trade deadline as the Lakers try to get better. It was a major focus of conversation after the game, you know, whether or not the Lakers have enough to get by and continue to give themselves a chance to win. And it is a reminder as well of the Everyday Air Club because with the deadline here, we want to give you a free month of the new Everyday Air Club to help you get ready.

Starting point is 00:36:18 If you need a group chat to keep up with chaos, you can join ours. Every Everyday or Day or Club member, you get into all the group chats on the Discord for the Lockdown Network, including the Lockdown Lakers, one that Andy and I participate in. You can talk to us, talk to the national guys. You also get ad-free versions of the show. So if you sign up by February 5th, which is the deadline, use the code deadline to get that first month free. tap the link in the show notes to learn more locked on lakers on youtube as we're going to hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Drops 30, LeBron 22 but Lakers Lose in New York... James Named to All-Star Team

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