Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA West Squad: Luka the Laker Returns to Dallas!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Three, two. On today's show, the Thunder have lost their last two games. Are we worried about them at all going into this playoffs? We'll talk about that and more. Locked on NBA Squad Show, West starts. You are talking ball with the NBA West Squad Show, sponsored by game time. From the Warriors to the Lakers, the Mavericks to the Nuggets, and everyone else in the West.

Starting point is 00:00:25 The local experts of the Locked-on Podcast Network bring you all the scoops, breakdowns and the most comprehensive look at the Western Conference. Trash talk and big takes included. No holding back, we're giving the green light. It's time to talk NBA West. And welcome. You're locked on an NBA squad show West. My name is Nick Engshead, host of the Lockdown Mavericks podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:51 sputtering to the finish. This is the squad show. We take over the feet of your favorite lockdown show. It's an open invite for any host to join to talk about anything they want within the NBA's Western Conference. This episode is brought to you by GameTime, download the Game Time app, create an account, use that code,

Starting point is 00:01:03 Lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Joining me today from Lockdown Nuggets Matt Moore, Lockdown Lakers, Andy Kaminitsky, and the sputtering Oklahoma City Thunder from Lockdown Thunder, Rylan Stiles. Gentlemen, the Thunder have lost their last two games. I joke about it. They are 11 and 2 in their last two in the last 13 games, though, to be fair. But the last two losses have been to the Rockets by 14,

Starting point is 00:01:29 and then the Lakers by 27. Are we worried about the Thunder at all? I'll allow Rylund to start off. Is there any case to be worried about this incredible Thunder team we've seen this season? Lakers more so than the Rockets game. I mean, you should be worried about any team going up against Lukat Ancich and Lukaanches just tore them apart. He was excellent.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Austin Reeves was excellent. LeBron, of course, was excellent. Like they were able to just manipulate and bend the Thunder's defense in a way that generated wide open looks and they cashed in those wide open looks. It was very reminiscent of, you know, Lucas kind of orchestra of what he did last year in the playoffs where he was just getting open looks for his guys. His guys came through for him. They win the series. But I think ultimately it's kind of a glass half full, glass half empty kind of conversation.

Starting point is 00:02:17 Right now it's very easy to lean empty after they got beat twice and they had some of their worst losses in terms of like point differential these last two games. But like the Lakers series was always going to be a seven game series, I think. And so the Lakers would clearly in that case be capable of beating the Thunder, and they beat the Thunder on Sunday. And the Thunder blew out Dallas in game one of last year's playoff series, and we saw how that went for Oklahoma City. So it doesn't necessarily change anything. I think it just shows that the Lakers are able to really mix and match

Starting point is 00:02:49 and have a match of advantage against Oklahoma City if they're going to play defense that way. Because while they did hit their open shots, they deserve a lot of credit for that, their defense was swarming. They were crisp in their rotations. And even though they didn't have a true rim protector, and we've talked about how the Thunder could get to the rim on them, their length on the perimeter didn't allow them to get to the rim and expose that kind of out,

Starting point is 00:03:09 that exposed that kind of mismatch at the rim. And so they kept Shay away from the rim. They really harassed J-Dub. And then Chet was kind of inefficient against a wing playing underneath him. So the Lakers, for sure, deserve all the credit in the world. But I think that, again, if you really take a step back, and if you always thought that that series was going to go six or seven games, that means that the Lakers would win some games, obviously.

Starting point is 00:03:29 I have a Lakers question. Andy, why is it that the Lakers defense looks so amazing one night and so not amazing the next? To some degree, you'd have to go through each game and let me know who was available and who wasn't. And how many games the Lakers had played over five games, six games, eight games, whatever. Like, I'm not trying to have a cop-out defense of them. I'm just saying for a lot of that stretch that that was a specific thing going on with the Lakers. They've had players in and out of the lineup. There's been certain games, particularly on the second end of a back-to-back lately,

Starting point is 00:04:04 where Rui Hachamora hasn't been available. And I think Rui's defense at times has been underrated, might be too strong of a word, but I think people have thought of him as more of a defensive liability than he's actually been. But more importantly, when he's not there, the offense suffers. And your offensive efficiency will often dictate how well your defense can play, you know, in terms of being able to play, to set your defense off made baskets.

Starting point is 00:04:34 The more your offense can't score, the more pressure it puts on your defense, both mentally and in terms of how taxing the other team's offense will be on you. I mean, there's just, there's a lot that goes into this. And again, it can sound like excuse making for the Lakers, but they have played an unusually high volume of games over the. the last few weeks because their schedule got thrown out of whack because of the games that had to be made up due to the wildfires in in LA. So there's been a lot that was just really unusual for the Lakers. So yeah, they were incredible against the thunder. Do I think they can play

Starting point is 00:05:17 16 wins worth of playoffs, 16 wins worth of defense during the playoffs at that level? I don't know. I I mean, that's a tall ask, but they have shown they can be incredible defensively when they're locked in and everyone's executing. You've been as high on the Thunder trailer on the show. I was curious if yesterday's game changed that opinion at all. Repeat the question. I didn't hear it. Nick was talking over you. Yeah, Nick should never talk.

Starting point is 00:05:49 So you've been as high on the Thunder as anybody outside of Rylan. Yeah. I was curious if yesterday's game changed that at all for you. Or are you like, no, no, like they'll be anybody but the Lakers or if it's like the Lakers have a chance. I think the Lakers have a chance against the Thunder. I also think the Thunder have been the best team in the West all season for a reason. Like this bleep is supposed to be hard, you know? Like there's there can often be this expectation that like the team that emerges as the champion is supposed to just steamroll everybody in their way.

Starting point is 00:06:27 That's not the way this is supposed to work. It's supposed to be difficult. That's why we put so much value and celebrations on championships. If they were easy to win, who would care? I will say that I have a very specific concern about the Thunder, and it comes off as me on these shows being a hater, whereas on other shows I'm like super pro Thunder. And the reason is like I'm just really,

Starting point is 00:06:55 I'm trying to guard myself from getting my hopes up about them because to me they're like the best story in the league. It's like you built a team the right way. You didn't have to have Nico Harrison give you a player for nothing. You actually had to do the work of building up a roster. You developed talent around them. You built this phalanx of wings that are just absolutely terrifying. You added such a smart player in Isaiah Hartonson, like they're smart. They play hard.

Starting point is 00:07:22 They all like playing together. It's such a great story. My concern is that they do remind me an awful lot of the 2019 Milwaukee Bucks. Like, just there's a lot of, I just got done watching literally every possession Shea Yose Alexander has done offensively this season. And there are so many similarities in terms of how the offense operates around Shea and how the offense operates around Janus. Janus does it with his size and physicality.

Starting point is 00:07:47 Shea does it with his unbelievable change of pace. Like he goes from zero to 60 faster than anybody else and he goes from 60 to zero faster than anybody else. And that means that they're built very much the same way. And the problem in the 2019 playoffs and top of Fred Van Bleet having a child was the Bucks guys just missed.

Starting point is 00:08:08 And none of the Raptors guys missed. And like that's really what it took. Like the defense was doing what it was supposed to. And it just didn't work. I had some numbers checked on second spectrum, the expected field goal percentage for OKC, relative because like if you look at it from the perspective of the thunder give up the most the highest

Starting point is 00:08:30 three point attempt rate in the league defensively they got the highest corner three point rate attempts defensively rate defensively those are like big big warning signs what's interesting is there's a second spectrum has shooter agnostic and shooter specific and their shooter agnostic are like you know the thunder might be in a little bit of danger and the shooter specific ones say they make the worst shooters only take all the shots and that works until you hit certain teams with certain guys and that's where I think the concern comes from well this is an interesting point that you raise Matt because in in this win over the lakers win over the thunder which is the spark to this conversation dorian finney smith and gave vincent

Starting point is 00:09:17 each hit four threes and this is on top of a game where luka put up an extreme efficient 30 points. Like if that is your baseline, Luca performing like that and the role players like DFS and Gabe are hitting their outside shots, it's going to be difficult for anybody to beat the Lakers, like Thunder or who else is in the West because that is like offensively about as idealized a version of the Lakers as you can get. And that's before taking into account 20 from Austin Reeves, a very,

Starting point is 00:09:53 easy 19 for LeBron, Rui in double digits. Like this is everything firing about as well offensively as you could ask for from the Lakers. Oh, and they also held the Thunder to 99 points. They also held Shea Gilgis Alexander to zero free throw attempts, which I mean, I'm not an expert on the Thunder. And again, be allowed that. Well, you know, you slip Adam Silver a handshake with a 20 in it, a lot. lot can be accomplished. It was against the Lakers, too? Oh, another, just another.

Starting point is 00:10:28 But like, you know, Rylan, I'm sure would know this. Like, that has not happened very often this season. Like Shea having zero free throw attempts. And that's a big reason the Lakers won this game. Like the idea that Shea, despite being really efficient from the field, 26 points on 12 of 23 shooting, seven assists, he wasn't able to get the cheap points. And I don't mean that as like a degradation like Shays.

Starting point is 00:10:53 a foul grifter. I'm just saying like those are the cheap points that you add on. It was actually credit to the Lakers. There was one drive where there was one drive where the Lakers probably did Foucher. They probably should have called it. They didn't call it. Other than that, there's not a single play that I can point to and say that she should have gotten to the line there. That was just the Lakers playing within the rules, physical, aggressive defense. And that's what was so impressive. But at the same time, if you're asking me, do I think the Lakers can hold Shea to zero free throw attempts four times in a seven game series? my answer is bleep no.

Starting point is 00:11:25 Like, no, they're not going to be able to do that. So even if they can beat the lake, even if they can beat the thunder four times, the formula isn't always going to be the same. And in part because Shea is so good and the thunder are that good. Somewhere Matt George from Lockdowne Kings has just started screaming and he doesn't know why. He just started just absolutely screaming out of the sheer agony of someone suggesting that the Lakers like couldn't hold somebody to zero free throws. Of course they could.

Starting point is 00:11:51 Come on, guys. Like, we know the whistle. Four times, though? Four times in a series. I'm not saying once. It's a playoff, Andy. Whatever it takes. His whole point is the Lakers have to play an almost perfect game to beat the Thunder four times. They have to play a perfect game four times, basically. And all those things that went right the other night would have to go right. Or at least comparable. It's going to be hard to beat. It's going to be hard to beat OKC four times. Coming up, the bottom five in the West. We've talked about them a little, but we're about to shelve them for a really long time on this show. Let's talk about which team has the brightest future in the bottom five. of the West. We'll talk about that coming up.

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Starting point is 00:13:33 We've got a show that covers your favorite team. Go check out the link in the description to find that show. Locked on Thunder, Locked on Nuggets, Locked on Lakers, Locked on Mavs even. If you're a real sicko, go check out Locked on Mavs right now. We're talking about the deep stuff. But this week we do have the Lakers coming in town

Starting point is 00:13:48 to talk about the, you know, to get into all that. But let's talk about the bottom of the West. Which team has the brightest future? You start looking at him. If you're a GM, which job would you rather have? Is there any other choice besides the Spurs? I mean, assuming Victor's okay, obviously. Right.

Starting point is 00:14:11 That changes everything. Fair. But like, if Victor's okay, then no. Like, you just got to, you got to put the spurs at the top, right? Like, Victor, you could not have Stefan Castle and you could not have their cap space. You could not have their coaching and their organization. And you'd still want them. But they have those things, too.

Starting point is 00:14:27 So yeah, it's the spurs. I mean, I would piggyback on into what Matt said because the spurs are the obvious answer with Wemby. The Blazers are an interesting team in that you can see signs of what it could be, but I'm going to need to see more of it like materialized to really feel good about it. And the jazz, you know, ask me in three months if we see that they end up with Cooper Flagg. because whoever ends up with Cooper Flag gets put in a very specific positive direction moving forward. The Pelicans, though, are the team right now among these bottom feeders in the West that I do not even feel sort of good about their direction because I have no idea what the bleep their direction is.

Starting point is 00:15:15 And I don't think they know. I got a 12% chance at Cooper Flagg. Maybe. But if say Cooper Flag ends up going somewhere else, they're the one. team that I look at and I say I have no clue what that direction is. Like I can sort of decide what I think the Jazz's direction is. I can sort of have an idea what the Blazers direction is and you absolutely know what the direction for the Spurs is assuming Wemby's healthy. What the hell are the pelicans? Like for real, I have no idea what that is. Doesn't it feel like the pelicans and raptors

Starting point is 00:15:51 are sort of like doing the same thing, just acquiring as many random players as possible? and then just we'll just see what happens. I mean, the Pelicans have been way more injured than the Raptors. The Raptors are choosing to lose more games than what the Pelicans are right now. Yeah, I mean, I would put the Suns last, and I'd even take the Pelicans above them, just because I think that the Pelicans at least have, especially if they got Cooper Flag, but at least right now in their roster, if you did want to make a decision on what direction to go and you wanted to sell off some pieces, you can get some really good returns for some of their guys

Starting point is 00:16:21 on their roster, which would set them up better for the future than they're currently set up right now. And then if they did get Cooper Flag, then you just be banking on them being healthy, which is a scary bet with what the history shows of that roster. But it's a bet worth making, I think, if you were able to get the top luck in the lottery. But I mean, the spurs are the clear and obvious number one. What about the spurs? Let's just let's say besides Wemagnamo, what is? So how are the spurs set up to succeed in the future, I guess?

Starting point is 00:16:49 Let's throw it that way. Castle is likely win rookie the year. And that's not saying much. um it's the two sweetest words in english language default but like i think uh congratulations stephan yeah yeah yeah a lot of the malcolm brogden annual default rookie of the year the spurs have some i i think it's fair to say the spurs have some guys um i've actually i've liked a lot of of how various players have played this year um uh julian champania i think it's been really good for them i think you know obviously having dearon fox right like you have a

Starting point is 00:17:31 player that's played in an all-star caliber level um they're no longer forcing show uh sohan to play point guard against yeah that's a nice stuff and i still really like so han um i still really like him him like he ever just like seven boards and he's just like a monster and he makes yeah he's a guy that i think that in time it's gonna be like you know it makes a lot of winning plays he's just not a starting point guard yeah yeah it's not his position Yeah. Pop was like, I knew it. You know, and like, Mamu's having, having this, whatever this month is for, for Mamu, which is cool.

Starting point is 00:18:03 I've actually like Kelton Johnson as well, too. I think he's played really well this season. They've, like, they have some guys. And so when you think about that, plus like, hey, like, what if they land two or three in the lottery? Yeah. Like, what if the Spurs get VJ Edgecombe to go with Stefan Castle and Victor when and yama like yeah and also like this draft is deep like there's you know the top three tiers are really considered to be pretty solid all-star potential and so like they're i think very well set up

Starting point is 00:18:38 plus they have like the draft assets and everything else i just think that that even though it's not like the east is i think is a really interesting question the west is very much like it's san Antonio and like hey portland might be something and like the pelicans might be healthy a year and then yeah that's it. My thing is that there's so much potential, I think, for these teams that they would go further, but the CBA is restricting so much of it. And that's frustrating. The Pell's, I think, are just too attached to their guys. Like, the Pells should be like, we can start over with so much. Like, if we cleaned house, not forget Zion. If we clean house for Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, the list of suitors is going to be miles long. Yeah. Like,

Starting point is 00:19:17 every team in the league wants those two guys. Every team in the league can use those two guys. With the jazz, it's way less so, but it's like they have guys that I think the teams are interested in acquiring and they've just held on to them. Blazers a little bit too with Robert Williams and Jeremy Grant. So if those teams will just get moving and actually trade their guys or find a way to do it given this new CBA, I think there's a lot of potential of these teams to have upward mobility, which, you know, good luck because it's the West and everybody's so good and should be so good going forward, give or take a few teams that will have their own Phoenix Sun years. Yeah, Matt, Matt hit all the right notes. I mean, the Spurs with Johnson and Vassell and Fox and Wimby and the Castle,

Starting point is 00:20:01 like all these guys are really good and this draft class is really good. And there's not really a front office that you would trust even more, Oklahoma City and the Spurs and for offices like that to capitalize on two first-round picks and this loaded draft with the ability to get lottery luck. I mean, you can see their own pick leap up. We'll see what the Hawks end up doing. But everything can really turn up spurs this off season and they can make a massive jump. And that's more than most of these other teams can say.

Starting point is 00:20:28 Yeah, that's a big piece too. Just the idea that that front office has earned the benefit of the doubt. And, you know, nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. But if you are going to bank on a front office and, you know, play the odds that they will be able to figure out a good path, it would be the spurs. You know, as you get late in the season, there are teams that you kind of put away. And like I put away at the spurs after when I was like, all right.

Starting point is 00:20:51 Yeah. They're just kind of like, like I've caught him a few times with some high offensive games. Their offensive numbers have been really great. Like I just now I'm like, wait, Bizbe Gombos playing for them. Like he's playing for them. Like Biz is still playing and he's playing for them like 19 minutes a game.

Starting point is 00:21:07 What? So yeah. They did that weird thing where they were starting Chris Paul and Fox together too, where it's like, well, I don't know what they do with Chris Paul next year. He's a free agent. And so it's like, you've got to figure out that piece,

Starting point is 00:21:17 but maybe they can just let it go and just, let Chris Paul just kind of figure out where he wants to go next. But that was that's a weird thing where you're like, all right, well, I don't know if they have this weird wrinkle, if they can bring Chris Paul off the bench if he ever wants to do that. But maybe they just let him go. The Mavericks should sign him. Honestly, I pitched that on Locked a Mavs the other day that they should.

Starting point is 00:21:38 And then they're like, well, why would he want to sign with the Mavs? He's no chance to win a title. He would start for most of the year until Kyrie comes back. Interesting. Not bad, yeah. All right. So we'll see. We'll see. We'll talk about that on Lockedomabs.

Starting point is 00:21:49 Coming up. I want to get into, let's do a mini crossover with Lakers and Mabs and talk about this Luca return game coming up. Does anybody care about this outside of Dallas and L.A.? We'll talk about that, Amore, Lockdown, NBA Squad Show West. Oh, just in time. Maybe you're in a position where a star player on your team was traded in the middle of the night, in the dark times have risen upon you. Maybe you need some help.

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Starting point is 00:23:05 That's BetterHelp, help.com slash locked on NBA. All right, gentlemen. It's a big, big game coming up. Not really for the standings. Not really for the on-the-court process or whatever's going to happen. But Luka-Ot is returning to Dallas to play the Mavericks. That's happening this week, and it's happening tomorrow if you're listening to this on a Tuesday. And I'm curious if anybody else cares about this outside of Dallas and L.A.

Starting point is 00:23:35 Or Andy, do the Lakers fans even look at this game differently than just a normal game? Well, absolutely. I mean, the game matters for the Lakers just in terms of trying to solidify their standing in the playoffs and trying to prevent at worst falling below four, or I guess depending on how the rest of these games go out into the play-in. And at best, you're trying to maintain that three-seed. So it's an important game for the Lakers, regardless of the soap opera piece of this. So, yeah, they would be caring.

Starting point is 00:24:08 As far as the idea of how much are Laker fans invested in watching Luca go scorched Earth on Dallas? Whoa. That's how Luca fans are going to react to the Laker at their Dallas. The sound of Dallas fans watching Luca go scorched earth. Wow. They would like to see it just because of the, you know, are you not entertained value and also all the signs you want to see of Luca rounding in a true Luca form heading into the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:24:41 They probably don't want to see Anthony Davis catch some of these strays because, you know, he certainly didn't do anything wrong, but sometimes there's collateral damage. It's the way the world works. It is. It's a big, it's a big, it's a big massive game for Mavericks fans. It's probably one of the biggest games like in Mavericks fan history outside of playoff games because of what it's going to mean and what I think the fan base wants to show and like improve. And I think emotionally it's going to be that big of a game. It doesn't matter that much on the court. But like define what you want. Yeah. Like don't you kind of want him to just come in there and drop 60 on them? Yeah. And then I think I think the I think the fan base will want to show that hey, we still love this guy. We still support this guy. I think about the protest at the first home game. I think there's going to be stuff like that. And I think there'll be a chance. I think there'll be love Sean DeLuco.

Starting point is 00:25:27 Is there going to be a road game for the Mavericks? Yes. Yes. That sucks for them, man. What's the tribute video going to be like? That's the big, that's a big question. They're going to get one. You've got to do one, right?

Starting point is 00:25:39 You should. It's the second best player in your franchise history already. But the match had done everything possible to be on the wrong side of the PR battle of this whole thing. It would be so funny if they just didn't do one and get killed for that too, which rightfully so get killed for that if they didn't they do a lot of funny videos in the mav's home games so they should do like a really funny one there's like a tribute video but it's just like all the weird luca things that it's just clips of lucca eating yeah it's just the dude for the whole thing you guys the dude perfect guys the trick shot youtube guys are based in in dallas they should just

Starting point is 00:26:14 have him they just have them post the video where it's just lucas trick shots just over and over again and that's the whole um speaking of by the way likeers have have a back-to-back in the spot because the lady didn't know that this is going to happen. It's Tuesday, Wednesday. I am of the opinion, Andy, that the Lakers are probably going to rest guys Tuesday. You've already beaten the Lakers or have beaten the Thunder. Take the win and be like, yep, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're going to rest all our guys. And then they are able to rest up and play everybody Wednesday versus the maps.

Starting point is 00:26:44 I don't know. You know, it's funny. I've been thinking about this from both the Lakers and the Thunder's perspective, this game tonight on Tuesday of people are, are. watching it then. Like, if the Thunder had won that game or just even blown out the Lakers, my expectation would have been that Mark Dagnall would have rested a lot of guys, just A, because the Thunder are in such good shape moving forward and B, kind of prove a point, not show anything, you know, create a little psychology heading into this. But given how badly

Starting point is 00:27:17 OKC got beaten, I wonder if they actually need to try to play a full squad. And if possible if the Lakers return served with their full roster, try to make some adjustments, try to see what they can do moving forward. Like the idea of holding cards or whatever, I don't think that's how, I don't know JJ's playoff track record because it literally doesn't exist. But JJ does not strike me as a holding cards type coach. I think he's more of a, I want to do the stuff on the court. Everybody knows what everyone runs anyway.

Starting point is 00:27:53 It's all about execution. But I think the Thunder just kicking the, I mean, the Lakers kicking the crap out of the thunder in this game creates a potentially different wrinkle for how both sides are going to play. I'm very curious. Yeah, we missed the injury report window. They have not submitted one as over the time we're recording this. So we don't know. But it is a very interesting wrinkle of Marks been asked that very question of holding cards close to the vest. And he did try against the Lakers to go double bigs and try to impose their size on a team without a center.

Starting point is 00:28:22 it did not work. So obviously that would tell you that they should, you know, try a single big lineup with Kaysen in the starting five instead of tone defensively that way. And like he said that he doesn't believe in holding your cards because you can get the same effect by just showing every team, everything. And then then you catch them by surprise with the element of you don't know what card that they're going to play because they have all these different cards to play versus catching them by surprise and yourself by surprise of holding something back and never seeing it for yourself first. And so that will be very interesting. It's also the Thunder's last regular season home game.

Starting point is 00:28:54 And so I think that the business side of things might come into play where you want to play for the final time in front of your fans in the regular season. Maybe that's just completely overblown. But the Thunder do have a back-to-back as well, not as emotionally charged as the Lakers Navvicks back-to-back. But the Thunder will go to Phoenix the next night and play the Sons, who the Thunder might be able to just get a win because the sons don't care about trying to fight back into any of this.

Starting point is 00:29:15 So the Thunder are really, I think, able to play either side of the coin with the Lakers. If the Lakers want to sit everybody, the Thunder can sit everybody because they wouldn't really necessarily care about playing the suns, I don't think. But yeah, it is a very interesting kind of matchup to watch in that sense. I also think because the Lakers are in such a tight race and they're trying to maintain third or at the very least not fall below four, God forbid six. There's only so cute I think they can get with this in terms of trying to maintain that pace.

Starting point is 00:29:48 even the Blazers until they are fully, that's the Lakers last game of the season, until they are fully eliminated from the play in race, it seems like they are trying to win games. And it was a big, it was a big, big step forward for the Lakers in terms of maintaining their seating, beating the thunder on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:30:10 But it's, I don't know how cute they're going to play this thing or how much they're going to err on the side of resting anything or whatever. just because 3 through 10 or 3 through 8 is just that type. Yeah, and we'll never like no, but I do wonder the emotion of like wanting to be. Like if you, if the Lakers would have to rest on one end to the back to back just physically, I wonder how much the emotion plays in of the Lakers wanting to be there for their guy, for their guy, Luca in a very emotionally charged game.

Starting point is 00:30:38 We're like, Luca's going to be his first game back in the American Airlines Center and all that goes into the very next night. Perhaps it means nothing. Perhaps it means everything. We don't know yet. Mabs have three full days off before that game too. You're actually just, I'm sorry, this is just where my brain goes. Andy, you're actually not like, you're pretty good.

Starting point is 00:30:56 So, Lager's going with this. At his job or? Sorry, with playoff standings. Okay. It's like they are, yeah, the idea is like, well, they're in this really tight race and they're only two games above these teams, but we've only got like three games, three or four games left. The other thing is like Lakers own every single tiebreaker.

Starting point is 00:31:13 I know. Like they're going to be fine. they're going to be they're going to make playoffs it's just the lakers exceptionalism of him that wants to what you also remember too with with the lakers specifically given how the last two seasons have been spent at breakneck speed trying to just get themselves into the play in and then they've also seen how taxing having to play that play in game is for a team with lebron and the rest that they want to get between the end of the regular season and when the playoffs actually begin if you can avoid the play in piece of this,

Starting point is 00:31:48 they've talked a lot about that, like pretty openly, no, seriously, we do not want to be in the play. And like, you're 100% right, Matt, that the odds at this point favor them. I just think they're probably going to be too spooked

Starting point is 00:32:04 by the last couple seasons to, again, take chances with it. Even if you could argue, just take the chances, they're fine. I don't think they will. Everything is terrified of it.

Starting point is 00:32:14 They also avoid, Well, they also avoid, okay, see if they don't fall the four, right? At least until the Western Conference finals. So you at least have that, too. That's the only thing you can kind of position yourself because four through eight is just so tight right now that you can't position yourself for any one opponent on the other side of the bracket. But I think it is really interesting. So what? That's in Rylan who he doesn't want to see in the eight.

Starting point is 00:32:38 Ooh, I mean, obviously, like if the disaster struck in Denver fell to the eight, then that's like an obvious answer. but of the teams that feel realistic that can go there is Minnesota. I would not want to see Minnesota lose the first play in game and then be the eighth seed. I think that they're a very tough team to be. And I think that they have the lineups that they can put on the floor to create some advantages against Oklahoma City, that it would be one of the tougher eight seeds that a number one seed would be rewarded with playing. Denver could absolutely fall to eight, by the way. Yeah, you want to avoid that.

Starting point is 00:33:08 You want to avoid that? I think that's the nightmare right now. Like the Nugget missing in one playoffs is on the table right now. I think that the Lakers, it's very interesting, though, what they're going to do. And I wish that we had the injury report to know because there is something to be said for just playing their guys against OKC and having that confidence of winning that game. Because if you do win both these games and still shoot the ball really well, we hear all the time about the confidence like PJ Washington. There's something about OKC that he has just this unbelievable confidence in going into that gym and running them off the floor. And I think that you can build that sort of confidence in these next two games, especially if you follow up what you did on,

Starting point is 00:33:42 on Sunday, but maybe that means nothing as well. Maybe life means nothing. For all to talk about, you know, load management, LeBron being 40 and whatever, LeBron does not like to miss games. Like, he really doesn't. And I think the second end of the back to back against Dallas, Rui might not play just because they haven't been playing Rui in the second end of back to backs because his knee is still by his assessment 70 to 80 percent. And they're trying to prevent him from missing anything in the playoffs. But, you know, I don't, care who plays or doesn't play on Tuesday. I promise you, Luke is playing in that game on Wednesday. LeBron will likely want to be there. Austin, like, these guys don't really like taking games off,

Starting point is 00:34:23 at least on this team. So my only anticipation of who wouldn't play in both ends of the back-to-back would be Rui. We've got great shows that cover all these teams in this amount of depth all over the place. So check the link to the description to find more. We also will have all kinds of shows throughout the playoffs. We'll continue to do the squad show. Check out the newsletters for every single team locked on daily.com guys thanks for you listen to locked on aBA squad show west boom

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA West Squad: Luka the Laker Returns to Dallas!

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