Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Sluggish Lakers Pull Away From Brooklyn 116-99, but Luka Gets 16th Tech

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers are sluggish, but they pick up the win against Brooklyn, but a tough night for Luca not on the scoreboard. We'll explain next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks, everybody for tuning in to Lockdown Lakers, Brian Kemenetsky, Andy Kemenzki.

Starting point is 00:00:32 This was a game the Lakers played against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night that will go on nobody's proverbial refrigerator door at home. It looked in the end like the Lakers won in a laffer. 116-99, Andy was the final score, but it was not an easy game.

Starting point is 00:00:55 It was not a laffer. It was a game of the Lakers after a hot start found themselves in a bit of a dog fight with a dog of a team. The Brooklyn Nets. They are not good, but they were with the Lakers the whole way.

Starting point is 00:01:08 Yeah, they have won 17 times this season. And despite not having Michael Porter Jr., among other guys, it looked at points in the second and third and even the top of the fourth quarter, like they might get win 18 at the expense of the Lakers. After a hot start, they were up 12 points in the first quarter. The Lakers, I think not just took their foot off the gas. They put the car in neutral and then put their feet up on the dashboard.

Starting point is 00:01:36 while they were rolling down the street. And during that period, yeah, during that period on both sides of the ball, they got sloppy. They turned the ball over four times in the first quarter. They had 11 through three quarters. Their offensive sets were very sluggish and non-descript and did not feel particularly structured or focused.

Starting point is 00:02:04 Defensively, they were late. on a lot of rotations. Like I felt bad for DeAndre Aiton Jackson Hayes in this game, who I think were, Luca was obviously the best player in the sense that we'll get into. He had another Luca Paloosa scoring explosion, 41 points on this night, a very efficient and highly impressive 41 points. But defensively, I thought DeAndre Atenre Aiton and Jackson Hayes were really working hard and having to keep their heads on a 360 swivel.

Starting point is 00:02:40 There was so much happening around them that was impossible to keep up with. But what was interesting is as the game went along, I think the Lakers went from just trying to get by and cruise control to, oh, bleep, we cannot keep up with this team's athleticism and speed, and they are getting us turned around and discombobulated a lot. Well, they say that the two hardest games of a long road trip are the last game of the road trip and the first game back from the road trip. The Lakers certainly did what they could to prove that correct. And, you know, it was funny to watch.

Starting point is 00:03:23 Like the Nets don't have a lot of really good players. They don't have a lot of average players. But, you know, you take a guy like Nolan Treyori, for example, Dude's quick. I mean, he's bouncing around. Brother of former two-way player, Armeltrae, or it. Correct. You know, the guy's got some wicks.

Starting point is 00:03:43 And so, you know, he, he was one of the players that was kind of, you know, obviously frustrated in Lakers. J.J. Redick said walking off the court at halftime, talking to Mike Trudell on the TV broadcast, that, you know, they just looked like they were stuck in mud. And I think that was true offensively. I think that was true defensively. They still were suffering from some tired legs. You know, so it was an ugly win, but a win that they needed.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Austin Reeves, who finished with 26 and was a game high plus 26. That was based mostly in a very, very strong fourth quarter. But you can just see it. Like the Lakers were slow on a lot of stuff. They left a lot of shots short. They left a lot of free throws short. the Lakers were terrible from the line. If they had shot better from the free throw line,

Starting point is 00:04:37 this game wouldn't have been nearly as close than the, you know, as deep it wasn't in fourth quarter. They missed 13 free throws in this game. They're 29 of 42. The 42 parts good, but the 29 is not. And then, obviously, and we'll get into it, a 16th technical foul for Luca Donchich. He got into kind of a jawing match with Zaire Williams,

Starting point is 00:04:58 little shoves and stuff like that ensue. I think the NBA can only go to the rescission well one time with the Luca Donchich 16th technical. I'd be surprised if he was on the floor against Washington on Monday. I tweeted out during the game because someone asked me at Cambrothers, do I think this tech could be rescinded like the last 16th tech that Luca got against the Orlando Magic. He and Goga Patazi jawing at each other in Serbian. each other saying that the other one crossed the line talking about family what yada yada yada that one was rescinded both of us thought at the time it should have been rescinded

Starting point is 00:05:43 and thought there was a decent chance it would be i told this person who tweeted at us or to share the account so tweeted at us were i a betting man i would place the odds at zero percent and i would bet the under i was shocked like stunned if this was rescinded, especially so quickly after just having one rescinded. I'm not, I'm not going to say for sure that Luca kind of, because you get too, you get suspended, then you get two more and then you get suspended again. I think there's a good chance Luca can get through what is, how many more games the Lakers have after Monday?

Starting point is 00:06:24 Eight. Eight games after money, after Monday be seven. After Monday be seven. I think there, you know, he probably believes he can get through seven more games without picking up three technicals um that being the case or just time the next one before like the mavericks or whatever it might be you'd have to pile maybe that last game of the year where hopefully he's sitting anyway um but like you look at it and it's it wouldn't shock me if luca mentally was like okay i've been kind of i've been you know keeping it in for if i got to let it out i think i'm going to let it out

Starting point is 00:07:02 with the wizards coming to town on Monday. Maybe. He looked like he was genuinely getting pissed off at Zaire Williams. Oh, for sure. But I just mean like in sort of in the back of his mind, like, knowing like, if there's a night where I'm going to get attacked between now and the end of the year, it's better to do it before Washington than the game that leads up to Oklahoma City. Hey, he, I'm not saying that I approve of this plan. I'm just saying he has carried the Lakers in many games this season. if he said, you know what, it's the Wizards on Monday.

Starting point is 00:07:33 I'm taking the night off and I am letting all of this out. I have been holding onto it for like three weeks. And we've mentioned like the last few games, Luca and LeBron and Austin have seemed frustrated by what they see as a lack of calls. JJ said the way teams defend the Lakers now is just to foul them on every possession. I think in going back to like Orlando and Detroit and Indiana, this game tonight. I think there has been a lot of physicality allowed in these

Starting point is 00:08:04 games on both sides. Like the refs allowing both sides to play, but it was, I think it's been growing clear that Luca LeBron and Austin have been getting frustrated. Luca's been biting his tongue for a while. He might have just said eff it, man. I'm letting it out

Starting point is 00:08:20 and then I'll reset. At least he wasn't yelling at the refs. All right, so we'll take a break and after we will talk a little bit about what's next. and get back into a great night for LA's centers. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by prize picks. And the playoff push, heating up, tournament hoops are here.

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Starting point is 00:11:28 You hold on to it. Your starter sit late. Everybody gets a little rest. And obviously that didn't happen. You got another 40-minute game for AR. Again, he was a plus 26, despite struggling to score early. Really didn't get a lot of shots. I think that was part of it was he just, you know, he wasn't involved in that way in terms of being able to really get into the paint and make some noise and do some stuff.

Starting point is 00:11:52 So, you know, once he got going, saw a couple threes go down and all that. Obviously, the fourth quarter was really big. Finishes with 26 points, eight rebounds, five assists, only two turnovers. He had a steal. Again, mentioned the plus minus four of seven from three. The numbers look great. But you would like to see a couple games where Austin could dip below, I don't know, 40 minutes a game. if you want to

Starting point is 00:12:21 if you want to put things on kind of the red flags that you might be worried about and the Lakers will get a little bit of a break when the playoffs start. Austin has played more minutes than anybody in the league over the last month I think it is or something like that and third I think third or fourth is Luca. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:37 So the Lakers two you know in two of their three biggest stars including obviously the biggest one have played a lot, a lot of minutes. And you would like to find ways to reduce that. Monday, Luca took care of that for himself.

Starting point is 00:12:58 But let's see if we can find a way for AR to get some rest. Never let it be said that the Lakers franchise face is not proactive. TCB, man. He sees a problem and he is solving it. A.R. is going to get 14 technicals in Monday's games so we can sit out the next one. I mean, JJ talked before the game, as you had mentioned, about how the first game after a long road trip at home can be tough, particularly when you only have a game off in between the last game and the last road game in the first. A day off. A day off.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Yeah, one, excuse me, one day off. Rui said the same thing in his post game interview with 710 ESPN. There's a part of me that buys into what they're saying, and I don't think it's not true. there's also a part of me that just thinks they flat up let their foot off the gas because they started out this game high energy and then seemed like they felt like they could cruise through it and kind of have their cake and eat it too. I think both. I think both can be true.

Starting point is 00:13:58 Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I'm not going to try to psychoanalyze them. What I'm leading up to is you got two days off between this game and Monday against the Wizards. So at that point, everybody should be sufficiently rested. and you have no excuse for not putting out the proper energy required to put away a wizard's team that frankly does not want to win this game away early enough where you can get that type of rest for Austin and LeBron and whoever else could use it.

Starting point is 00:14:35 So even if you want to take everything that was said about that one school of thought about the dynamic coming off the road trip, fine whatever they fine that doesn't apply anymore coming up for the wizards and if you just with the idea if you want to make the most of this opportunity on all levels that's how you approach it yeah um i i i you know if you want to start pulling out more positives um from this god it seems like they they only ended up with 13 turnovers sure seemed like more um they're 11 through three quarters yeah um Which is, you know, you'd even seem more than that for being honest. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:17 Well, some of their turnovers, Brooklyn gave them the ball right back. They're terrible. They are. They really are bad. I mean, I'll give them credit. They played hard. I mean, everybody's going to play hard in L.A. Yes, yes, they will.

Starting point is 00:15:29 You know, 3115. You know, we're able to turn it up defensively in the fourth quarter, 3115 and all that stuff. Our friend, our friend Yovon Buha, who covers the Lakers for Buhas block, did note. And I will say this is an astute observation. on Twitter, quote, the Nets have not gone back to Zaire Williams, Nick Claxon, or Noah Clowny in the fourth quarter,

Starting point is 00:15:48 despite this game being close. Right, and that tells you who they were playing, because it's not like Zaire Williams, Nick Claxton, and who is the last one? Noah Clowny. Right. I mean, those are not great players. The three, fun stat I landed on,

Starting point is 00:16:07 the three top active scores in this game. for the nets, their combined scoring averages were like a point and a half behind Luca himself. Like this is not a robust group of scores. I mean, Michael Porter Jr. wasn't playing and you're not going to see much in between now and the end of the year. You know, a couple of their decent, you know, rookies. What's the name? Wolf has been okay. Edgar Demmon isn't, isn't playing right now.

Starting point is 00:16:41 just they've got a lot of guys who aren't in the lineup and they don't have that many guys anyway. So and they're not trying to win. I mean, the players might be, but the team isn't. So, you know, I will say, though, I look at like what the, what you get. I kind of, I've started to look at the centers as a combined person. Like, what do you get from that position? This was a night where they played a lot.

Starting point is 00:17:07 They basically, you know, they didn't really go small at any point with the amount of, activity that the nets were putting out there and that they didn't have sort of a traditional lumbering back to the basket, you know, center. It was a good night for Jackson Hayes to play. But the two of them together come up with 19 points, 17, I'm sorry, 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks. So, you know, they were busy both playing with. with energy, both playing active.

Starting point is 00:17:42 I think it was a good example of like what you hope to see in the postseason, again, from that position. Yeah, I mentioned at the top. I thought both of them were doing their best, if nothing else, to raise the energy of this group. And, you know, they had to put it generously their handsful, trying to cover for a lot of young athletic nets running wild. But I do think the two of them actually played pretty well.

Starting point is 00:18:13 And I think the two of them actually brought the mindset that you wanted in this game. You know, Luca did. Again, he is maintaining and bring up some stats for the full show heading into Monday. I've even found some more stuff and the Lakers have put out more stuff. Dude is just, even by Luca standards, he is filling it up. No, the MVP push, like sort of the campaign for Luca has begun. And obviously as the Lakers continue to win, it gains more credibility. If the Lakers pile up more victories, Luca keeps scoring 40 a night and all that stuff,

Starting point is 00:18:50 it's going to be closer, I think, than it certainly would have looked like six weeks ago. So we'll see. All right. So obviously no show on Sunday, but we'll be back on Monday to get you ready for that Wizards game. Luca almost surely won't be playing in it. I can't imagine that 16th tech will be rescinded. But other players will be available. obviously keep you up to day too on the health of guys like Marcus Smart,

Starting point is 00:19:12 who was not available for Friday's game. Lock the Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 38,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone Monday.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Sluggish Lakers Pull Away From Brooklyn 116-99, but Luka Gets 16th Tech

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