Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Strong Games From Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Jake LaRavia Push Lakers Past Memphis

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

At halftime, Sunday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies looked like it might be one of the more frustrating losses of the year, as LA allowed 65 points to an undermanned Memphis squad, and couldn't get any real rhythm to their offense. By the end, all was well in the word. Final score, 120-114. A strong push in the fourth quarter from LeBron James (26 points, 10 assists, one turnover) combined with a strong game from Luka Dončić (36/9/8) and another good one from Jake LaRavia (26 points) was enough to give the Lakers the margin they needed. More than anything, though, the Lakers found more energy on defense, perhaps because the ball began to swing more on the other end. The Lakers just moved with more purpose on both ends in the second half. Helps, too, that they hit some shots, after an ice cold first half. Deandre Ayton was particularly spry defending the rim down the stretch, finishing with three blocks to go along with 15 points and eight rebounds. So like Friday's game, there were many things to like and some other things that less fantastic. But in a time with guys in street clothes (in addition to Austin Reaves, we learned Sunday that Rui Hachimura won't travel this week for the New Orleans/San Antonio back-to-back, so the Lakers have at least two more games without him, and many more without Reaves. Plenty of work left to do, but the Lakers got it done in a doubleheader against a weaker team.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The lakers beat Memphis 120-114.  SEGMENT 2: A new, if temporary, Big Three.  SEGMENT 3: Improvements, but still a lot of work left to do.  Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDONBetterhelpBetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist.Sign up and get 10% off at https://BetterHelp.com/NBA. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go tohttps://Quo.com/lockedonnba.Quo — no missed calls, no missed customers. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Lakers use a big second half and a new big three to get past the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. 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 your first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, sometimes on weekends, no matter how or where you get your podcasts, whether that's Apple, iTunes, Spotify, maybe you're one of the 37,000-plus subscribers to Lockdown Lakers on YouTube, matter how you're doing it, you're helping make the Lockdown Podcast Network,

the most popular sports podcast network in this or any other known universe. I'm Brian Kaminetsky with Andy Kaminetsky, long-time coverers of the Lakers going back almost two decades now. And Andy, in all of that time, I've never seen a new Lakers Big Three. as alliterative as the one the Lakers are currently running out. It may not be forever, but right now it's big and it's three and it's all L's, LRAVA, LeBron, and of course, Luca Donchich. Well, I mean, if it is actually the new big three and Austin Reeves got Wally Pipped,

on one hand that would throw a lot of plans into a very strange upheaval. On the other hand, Jake LaRavia is under contract for like 6 mil next year, and Austin is expected to get like 35 to 40, that would be the greatest cost savings Wally Pipp ever. I don't think it's happening. But I'm just saying there is a potential upside to Jake LaRavia all of a sudden doing his thing. We will know if this is something that Austin is worried about,

if before he comes back, he changes his name to Austin leaves. But 120, he's got to have an L to be part of this. You miss, as Wayne Gretzky one said, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. You sometimes miss some of the shots that you do take. He didn't say that too. 120. Right there.

120 to 112 is the final score. The Lakers use a very strong second half, particularly on the defensive end, to make up a deficit that at one point was 16. against a Memphis squad that was short-handed, no-job Morant for the Grizzlies on Sunday. A big win for the Lakers. And they lost Cedric Coward during the game.

Yes, that actually was probably pretty important. Coward had 16 at the break. That kid is good, man. He's good. He is so good. And so bouncy and just yet another one of those players that when you look at them go, man, the Lakers don't have anybody like that.

Dude, Jalen Wells, who took over once Sandra Coward went out. Another guy that is like, dude, I wish. Did you see after the game James Worthy on the postgame show blanked out on what Wells' name was? And he just put his hands out from his head indicating the hair. I don't want to get way down the rabbit hole of the Jalen Wells discussion, certainly not in a postgame reaction or about his hair, which is magnificent. But like this is the reason why the Lakers do need to every now and then consider using draft picks as actual players. Yep.

And actually developing their young players as guys that they want to keep as opposed to often transparently thinking about them only as, who are we going to trade them for? guys like, you know, Cedricow was a late lottery pick, but Jalen Wells was either late first or early second. Early second. Early second, but either way, like those are the type of young athletic cost control players

that the Lakers do need to every now and then think about developing. But again, discussion for a different thing. Sure. And for me, the way they really do is just lay bare again, the general lack of athleticism the Lakers have on this tool. But, you know, this was a night.

The Lakers were certainly carried by their stars. LeBron James had 26 points. Jake Laravia, who I'm just lumping in with the stars for now, because he was a star on Friday. He's a star again on Sunday. And, of course, Luca Donchage, with a very strong and efficient performance, 36 points, 10 of 20 from the floor,

four of 10 from three point range, 12 of 13 from the free throw line go along with nine rebounds, eight assists, only three turnovers for Luca, which is a nice shift in things. LeBron only had one against ten assists. So as a team,

they really took care of the ball. Really quick, I was going to say, Luca had three turnovers. They were all in the first seven minutes of the game. Yep. And from there, he did not turn over the ball once.

And like you said, LeBron only won. those two with their usage doing such a good job taking care of the ball was a big reason that the Lakers were able to, despite falling down double digits in the first half, not have the thing completely slip out from under them because there was a lot not going well in the first half. It really is a big deal because you look at those turnovers because if the Lakers turn the ball over four or five, six more times over the course of the first half into the same.

second half of the second half, you know, into the fourth quarter. It's not just that you are likely to give up more points to Memphis, a 16-point deficit can become 22 or 23. It's also you're not getting enough possessions to make up the deficit. And so, you know, they were really playing this game sort of straight. And by not shooting themselves in the foot, you give, an opportunity for a game like Lucas to have meaning, like LeBron, who really caught fire in the, similar like he did on Friday night, caught fire in the fourth quarter. He had 10 points, I think, on 11 points, I believe, in the fourth on Friday. And I think in this one, it just, you have to give yourself an opportunity.

And too often the Lakers, particularly offensively, just don't. And it hurts them. And Sunday was a good example of how, like you say, not doing stupid things can kind of prolong your window to come back when things aren't going well. You know, they shot 4.20. I think they were 24 percent, 424 for the first half from three point range, for example. They were terrible. But it got better. It gave them spell space to come back.

Look, this is one of the big things that I have been driving. I talked about this a lot after Friday show. I actually talked about it in the negative sense after the loss to Detroit. During this period where they don't have Austin, they don't have Rui. Gabe Vincent is, I believe, now starting to practice, but there is still no definitive timeline on when he's going to be back. And the weaknesses that the Lakers even have at full strength, particularly against strong teams with athleticism and defense and sports,

speed, they have to control the controllables. They have to control the things as best as possible that are directly within their control. And not turning the ball over on high risk. I'm not going to say low reward passes because if you complete them, there might be a reward at the end. But the risk being what it is, not just in the potential of a turnover, but putting this God awful transition defense in as many transition situations as possible, you have to weigh, I think, the risk reward very conservatively along those fronts.

Like making free throws tonight, they made 80%, which isn't even brilliant, but we've seen them do. That gets the job done. It gets the good. Yeah. It gets the job done. Making sure that if nothing else, the shots you miss, aren't terrible shots because the Lakers, I mean, we saw this in the first half, Memphis ran a lot

off their misses. And it's something a lot of teams are very intentionally doing against this team because the scouting report slow as F, I think is around the league by now. I think people have gotten the memo. That shot selection question was, I think, a much big, they did a much better job in the second half of making sure more people, touched the ball. It led to better shots, first and foremost, but I, and we'll talk about this in the next segment, but I also think it makes a huge difference in terms of how, not just how effectively the Lakers are set to play defense when they, you know, when they, they move back and, you know, are you balanced? Are you all those other things and so on? Just in the level of energy

that is, that they, that they use, like guys are putting out on that defensive side, all of it just picks up. And Memphis went on some of their run to build out that lead off of three or four or five really bad Lakers possessions, whether that's, you know, LeBron not moving the ball, Luca not moving the ball, the ball being passed one time and just so much standing to watch the 24 second clock go down. When they started to address that and more guys were moving, more guys were touching the ball, guys flashed to the paint every once in a while. like that, suddenly all the energy picks up. So we'll talk a little bit more about that and then obviously how the Lakers are going to continue maneuvering through this stretch where they are

shorthanded. We'll do it all next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by prize picks. This episode brought to you by prize picks, whether you are starting new routine or jumping into player projections for the first time, trying something new can feel like a challenge. But with prize picks, it always feels good to be right with high pressure football matches. every weekend and elite hoops actions almost every night. The action never slows down. Price picks lets you stay in control. Prizepix is the daily fantasy app that makes watching sports even more exciting

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what you're doing, that's fine. You don't have to. This is just a little something extra for people who want it, for everybody else. It stays exactly the same. So again, you go to the everydayer page, which is locked on, excuse me, locked onlakers.com, locked onlakers.com. Lockedonlickers.com supercast.com or check out the show notes. I think, you know, like you start when, when Rui's not available and he's not going to be traveling to New Orleans or San Antonio Tuesday and Wednesday. So he's got out of at least two more games,

not even making the trip. I was going to say, which means he's out longer than JJ had originally hoped. Correct. They did mention, I believe, before the game that it's possible he could practice with South Bay. So like he could get on the floor. so it's not total shutdown territory,

but he's not going to play in games and it's taking longer for him to get back than the Lakers had clearly originally hoped. So you're without Rui, you are obviously without Austin. Points are hard to come by with this team. And so what do you need to win? You need strong play from Luca Donchich, first and foremost.

He absolutely delivered that on Sunday, again, 36 points. 10 of 20 from the floor, 12 of 13 from the line. Huge for Luca to be able to get to the line. Finally hit some threes in the second half, a couple of which were pretty clutch. Teased a triple double in that way. You need a strong game from LeBron,

who had a very good fourth quarter. We mentioned it before. And then somebody else has to step up. And, you know, they need to find enough points somewhere else on the roster. Sunday night, it was Jake Laravia, kind of echoing what he did on Friday. And, you know, this stretch without Austin is not a good thing for the Lakers, a stretch without Rui's not a good, but it has over the last couple games allowed Leravia to get into

a rhythm that looked much more like what he was earlier in the season when he had that nice run where it's not just hustle plays, it's also what like you like to call the tangibles, the stuff you can see in a box score. You know, his shooting has been much better over the weekend. Yeah, we'll see how sustainable that actually is. And I say that only because the Lakers, their media relations Twitter account that Brian and I follow as people who cover the team, they noted that this was Jake's ninth 20 plus point game. And that's in 169 career games. The point being, this is not something that happens particularly often.

for Jake. And it's awesome that they've managed to get it two games in a row when the Lakers really needed this. Like they needed a third guy to step up. DeAndre Aidman, we'll probably talk about this a bit during the show. Very quiet Friday versus Memphis. He had had a string of pretty quiet games. JJ during Saturday's practice, acknowledged kind of a human nature element with DeAndre feeling not involved in the offense. and as is often the case with big men, when they don't feel involved with the offense, it often affects their overall energy.

A lot of when he was talking about was the context of the rebounding numbers, which I've been down. Right. And DeAndre, I thought actually bookended this game very well. He finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, three blocks. JJ noted actually that in the second half and fourth quarter, and I agree with JJ, DeAndre Aiton's defense was pretty key with a lot of what they were looking to do.

They got DeAndre two early buckets, which felt very, very intentional. Yeah, I have 100% agree with that. But, like, they're not going to be able to count on this from Jake all the time. And I think one of the guys they really need to make more of a point of getting involved is actually Aiton, because he is more proven and reliable along those lines to provide this type of scoring. It would be nice if the Nick Smith Jr. game happened a little bit more frequently, but if it did happen a little more frequently, Nick Smith wouldn't be on a two-way. Oh, you mean the Nick Smith Jr. game coming literally from Nick Smith?

Yeah. I don't expect that to happen very often. Yes. I mean quite literally the man who it is named after Nick Smith. Right. For people who don't understand, I have taken to referring to the Nick Smith game after it was it was the Portland game right where he just completely blew up on a night where the Lakers had like four players and and was a huge reason they won that game you obviously do not expect Nick Smith to lead your team to victory if you're the Lakers the other guys are supposed to do that so the Nick Smith game can come from Nick Smith but it doesn't have to anybody can have a Nick Smith game except for Luca, LeBron, Austin, and I'm going to say I think Rue and Aiton.

They're not allowed. Right. They're not allowed to have. They're not allowed to have a two-way contractor, like go to the G League. Like, they can't do it. They're just, they're too established for what exactly. That's my point. Yeah.

But specifically as scores, like, Mark, Marcus Smart is a former defensive player of the year. I think he is still eligible. He's on the top end of eligibility, but he is still eligible for the Knicksmith Junior game because as we know, the Marcus smart scoring experience is a roller coaster. It's wild. And Marcus did a lot of really good things in this game and on Friday as well, but they need somebody to be stepping up in this absence of Austin and Rui. I would like to see them look to make it Aiton more often, again, because better track record, but also I think

the overall result will be better if it's Aiden. The part of the La Ravia kind of mini comeback here, and it's two games that I think is really revenge games. That I think is really important. Isn't the point total necessarily?

First is the confidence. Putting the ball on the floor. It makes a difference when La Ravia can put the ball on the floor and start to attack the basket. He doesn't do it like, you know, Wells did or coward did with this like overwhelming athleticism, but he does, you. He is, as he agreed, Necky Athletic, he, he forces a defense to move. The Lakers don't get into the paint enough.

And so, and then when he does that, La Rabea is a good passer. He makes a good next pass, all that other kinds of stuff. But in these two games against Memphis, La Ravia is 7 of 16 from three point range. It's the shooting that needs to be a thing. La Ravian needs to be able to make 37, 38% of his threes. And he was down near, you know, 20 something. I think for the last 10 games, I think even with these improvements, he's still under 30% from three point range.

And so like that that's the number when I say, you know, kind of the consistency that's going to come back. That's the number that needs to elevate. They really, he would be a guy. And I think a lot of people are like even when Rui comes back, like, ooh, okay, he's maybe a natural fit in the starting lineup. He kind of bridges some gaps in that way. But it's a lot harder to do that if he's shooting 25% for three. Well, it's also just going to be difficult to do it when, even when Rui's back, because eventually Austin's going to be back. And Luca, LeBron, Austin, and Aiton are.

Right. I'm saying if you didn't want to start smart and you, you know, you were looking for an alternative. The three names we've put out there for that have been Smart, Vando and Laravia. And Laravia is making a case that he could be that guy. Oh, I think right now, I would imagine because it's expected that Rui is going to be back before Austin. At this point, if JJ does not use what has been happening, assuming it maintains as the organic reason to keep Jake in the starting lineup as the placeholder for Austin, obviously, versus putting Rui back in, then at that point, I don't want to hear from JJ anymore. about defense. I don't want to hear anymore about energy and playing hard and whatever. Because at some point, man, like put your decisions where your mouth is. Like you're asking for this.

It's being given to you. If you take it away, then at some point, one of the people you have to blame, it's not the players. It's yourself. Well, yeah, he said something interesting at practice over the weekend kind of regarding that. But we'll talk. about this kind of stuff and then what's coming for the Lakers and why these games this weekend were so important. We'll get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Quo, new year, new systems. And this is the time when a lot of us look at the messier parts of running a business and think, there's got to be a better way. Well, there is. And it's Quo spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications. If you are ready to make your workday smoother, keep customers connected

without headaches, Quo makes upgrading your setup easier than ever. Having calls, texts, and voicemails in one clean view, keeps everything organized, helps you stay responsive. Being able to share one team number makes it so much easier to ensure nothing ever gets missed. Make this year where no opportunity, no customer ever slips away. Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash Locked on MBA. That's QUO.com slash locked on MBA. Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. It's also important to me, Andy, when you sort of think about this transition, you know, when

guys get back. And look, we're a fair distance away from Reeves re-entering the lineup. But, you know, as the stretch run comes, you know, you get to the All-Star game and so on, they need to figure out a way to sort of lengthen this rotation a little bit because currently LeBron, Luca, they're all playing too many minutes. Like, you know, if you want a really higher level of defense, if you want guys, like, you need to be able to find ways to knock five or six minutes off of some of these guys how they play. And, you know, Rui as a strong player off the bench can do that.

Like, the Lakers just, they don't have a lot of depth right now at all. I mean, you look at the bench and I thought Vando had it sort of overall kind of an up and down game, did a lot of good things, did some things that were a little more cringy, seemed to lose confidence in his shot, which was strange because he had been so confident in it before. He was over Fortnite, but there were a couple times on Sunday where he clearly did not want. Well, I will say this, and I saw what you're referring to. I do wonder if at times Vando is actually. thinking about is I'm open but is this actually the best shot like is this actually I agree I agree all and all

I thought he actually had a good game he made a lot of things happen you know on the glass through effort through cuts he had a really it a really really really good play where LeBron found him on a corner baseline cut like I thought it was a pretty good yeah no he moved he was one of those guys when I talking about like players you know Aiton flash to the lane just move move your feet and something good can happen. But my point is not to pick on Vando and say he played a bad game, you know, but like in that 22-minute range a night is,

you know, I think somewhere near the upper end of the sweet spot for Vanda. And so, and then you look behind him. Jackson Hayes played 14 minutes. It's not a, you know, he can sometimes handle more,

but depending on the matchup, like that's not a crazy number for him. Nick Smith Jr., played 15, provided literally nothing in a box score sense. And then there's Dalton. Do we have time to talk about? We should just let people know why they're unlikely to ever see him again. Dalton hit a three in the first half, which is great.

And so actually a really, really nice base line out of bounds play, ran a curl off a screen from Jackson, LeBron hit him with a really good pass. It got worse from there. And so in the second half, he seemed to lose, you know, as Dalton sometimes does, a couple of plays where you could see teammates kind of Dalton, you know, defensively especially like are you in the right spot, whatever, missed a couple open threes that need to go down for him to be a member of the rotation. And then got into a, I wouldn't even say a shoving match because he was the only one

a shove. I was going to say Santee Aldama, his reaction to be like, what the hell is going on? I think because he was frustrated that he had missed a couple open shots, Dalton on the way up from the defensive side to the offensive side, chose that moment when he was standing, I don't know, five feet away from an official to two-hand shove Santee Aldama in the chest for, obviously an offensive foul and a technical. I texted you in that moment. We may ever see Dalton connect again. And there was, you know, he was,

Luca was up to come, you know, back in this game faster than I've ever seen a player move to get subbed in. Like so, and I say this not to dwell much on Dalton. We'll do this tomorrow maybe and talk about how his, inability to elevate to a rotation level player really hurts the Lakers. But I mention it in the context of a bench that needs to be stretched out again by getting players back because I just don't think it's, I don't think it's fair. Like maybe unless you take a guy like Drew Timmy and just throw a dart and see if he can

provide you something, it's not fair to expect some of these. guys to deliver especially offensive production on a night to night basis. Like, Vando has come back and he's playing well. But there's only so much scoring you can expect. And there's only, like, and you have to temper your expectations. Jared Vanderbilt is Jared Vanderbilt. And you have to know how to use that. That's why I say that 20 minute a night, 15 to 20 minutes like is a good sweet

spot in my mind in a deep rotation to be able to use Vando. Jackson Hayes has played very well this year. I don't think anybody can criticize what Hayes has done this year, but he's not somebody you trot out and expect to get 15 points in night from off the bench. And so you can't expect it from Brony. It's not fair to do it for Nick Smith. And Dalton Connect is going to have to walk to New Orleans now. So I, maybe he'll learn a lesson.

Think about what you've done. I just, they're in a really tough spot. And that's why, I mentioned it going to the break, that's why these games are so important. That's why you have to beat Memphis. That's why you have to beat New Orleans on Tuesday. Because Wednesday in San Antonio with this group is a tall order. It just is.

Well, I mean, look, first of all, just in the, I guess sort of, to be fair about all this, it might have seen insanely reckless for Dalton to shove San Diego. Dama in that moment right in front of a ref as the Lakers were actually starting to gain momentum. But it's hard to blame a guy for taking a few liberties after they've loosely secured themselves a 10th man. That's true. Like that's typically when people get kind of balls.

That's when they get comfortable. You're right. This is normal NBA behavior. As far as the scoring thing goes, I'll say it again. I've said it before. He lacks basketball IQ. Yeah. Or in this particular case, just common sense.

Regular IQ. in this particular instance, but basketball IQ broadly. We've had a few people hit us up on Twitter at Cam Brothers asking about this. I think it's actually come up in the YouTube chat as well. It wouldn't shock me, given what's going on right now, if maybe they gave Kobe Buffkin, who's with the South Bay Lakers, a look, because he has shown to go. Well, I mean, I'm not rooting for anyone in particular to let go,

but like Drew Timmy's barely played, Chris Mignon's barely, play. Like they're not going to let Nick Smith Jr. go. Obviously, that's not going to happen. Doesn't seem like it. No, I think it would actually be a mistake to let him go. He's helped them win enough games that it would be a mistake. If nothing else, he, I mean, I'm not going to sit and say, I think he's like a high end rotation player in the making. But he does right now, he has a skill set that even if imperfect and it absolutely is, he can put the ball on the floor and create a shot. No, it would be a mistake to let him go right now. Like with the wrong. roster as it is.

I think you can let Manion go, though. Kobe Buffkin's played in the NBA and he's never panned out, but he's also had a lot of injuries. Opportunity has been a little hit and miss, and he is destroying the G League right now. That's why I'm saying it wouldn't shock me if they gave him a look, just because especially they need some, I don't want to say he's an established scoring punch guy because he's I'm looking at up the numbers right now. He's not established anything.

That's why he's not established anything. But he has played in the NBA. He has done like some periodic scoring. And the other options you can't count on for that. And again, given Austin's going to be out for a while, given Rui is taking longer than JJ had openly hoped for. I'm not, this is based off no. have not asked around anything like that.

I'm just saying it wouldn't shock me if that happened. That's what these two ways are for. I think in a lot of ways it's to find guys who can come in. If you have the luxury of using them as developmental spots, great. I don't think the Lakers really have that right now. I wish they did because, I mean, look around the league. I mean, there are a lot of two-way guys who are making real impacts that teams are going to have to make choices about that are forced.

their teams into major roster decisions. This is happening all over the league. But right now, the Lakers are in a position of guys who are healthy. They could use those to develop players and try to find some guys who could become, you know, long-term helpful pieces. And maybe somebody like Buffkin can resurrect his career in that way. But right now they need guys who can give them 10 minutes a night if they need it. Right.

Because like you can't do this with LeBron and Luca, I think, for another month and not see some kind of repercussion. Yeah. Or if it's not. Luca bounced back with a really nice game on Sunday in terms of efficiency. And we've talked a lot about his efficiency. Last couple of games, it's been much better. Yeah. It was a 44% of the other Memphis game, you know, a nice game against.

He's like, there have been little sort of signs. And I should say, we didn't really get in that into. We'll talk about it more maybe for Tuesday show. Luca was part of, LeBron was part of, you know, those two guys who have been criticized rightly, were definitely part of that defensive uptick that the Lakers had in the second half that really helped bring them back. And I think a lot of it is energy and just pace.

The Lakers move too slow. They play at too slow a pace. I'm not talking about fast breaks. I mean, play with more pace, more urgency on both sides of all, cut with, you know, just do stuff. And those two guys were part of that, so they deserve credit. Absolutely. No, the two of them, like on Friday,

played a very, very big role in getting the Lakers back in, getting the Lakers, Friday they controlled the game, but Sunday they played a role in controlling the Lakers to get back into this game. You know, the care that they took of the ball cannot be overstated in terms of that importance. There's also starting to, and you need to see it more against better teams to really start feeling like it's a thing, starting to see a little bit more comfort between the two of them when they're on the floor together. And that's- LeBron and Luca?

I think so. Yeah, it's crucial. It's crucial. Yeah. So maybe we'll talk a little bit more about that on, on Tuesday's show. Lakers, of course, heading out. Tuesday, they play in New Orleans, Wednesday in San Antonio, but then they come back on Friday.

It's the Bucks, tough game, but winnable for sure. And then the Kings. So, you know, if Wednesday is a tough one, you've got to beat these sub-500 teams. And the Lakers have a little bit of that over the course of January. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is, you know, hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone tomorrow.