Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - The Lakers Get Crushed by the Thunder in Oklahoma City... What Lessons Learned?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers. For Thursday, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, the Lakers get absolutely annihilated by the Thunder. What can we learn from this one? That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:31 Thanks to everybody for joining in the fun here at Locked on Lakers, is Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, part of the Lockdowne podcast network, part of the number one sports podcast network in the universe, as far as I can tell. Not the number one team in the NBA

Starting point is 00:00:51 tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers. No, Andy, they are not. We learned the hard way that there is still a gap between the Lakers and the thunder of Oklahoma City. We will break down what broke down in just a second. and there's plenty to choose from.

Starting point is 00:01:07 But first, we need to tell people that today's episode is brought to by Fandul. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if you bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. Of course, you could always check out Locked on Lakers on YouTube and join in the chat if you are listening live. And grieve with people, Andy, because man alive, this was a tail whipping today. It started out well for the first like three minutes of the game. The Lakers were up.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Then the Thunder went on an 11-0 run. That wasn't just an 11-0 run because an 11-0 run is a problem in and of itself in any context. But a lot of the run was fueled by the Lakers' turnovers, which we talked about heading into this game. The Lakers could not afford to turn the ball over. against this particular team that is great at turning you over as it is, and they are incredible at capitalizing on those turnovers. And then we'll talk about this during the show. This was a game where everything fell apart in a bunch of different facets for the Lakers,

Starting point is 00:02:23 and I thought they looked really tight for this was not a game like, say, Atlanta, where they lost because they lost, because they, clearly did not give a bleep from the moment they showed up. They may have actually cared too much heading into this game. They looked tight as hell to me and they looked really, really bad. 121 to 92 was the final score. At one point, the Lakers were down, I believe, 40 in this game. They needed a 36 to nothing fourth quarter to push the game into overtime just to give you, This was not one that Oklahoma City ran away with at the end or anything like that. Nope, they had a 36 point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Starting point is 00:03:10 I just, you know, I agree with you. I'm not sure if tight is the right word. The Lakers did not play well. I think Oklahoma City did play well. So you think you got, you know, a very kind of polished version of the Thunder and kind of a raggedy version of the Lakers. The Thunder did the same thing. to Golden State on Tuesday night.

Starting point is 00:03:35 They dismantled them in basically the same way. And Golden State, granted with a slightly healthier stuff, came back and beat San Antonio on Wednesday. So, I mean, I think you can credit this a little bit to the thunder. I'm not taking anything away. No, no, no, no. I said many times. I think they're an incredible team.

Starting point is 00:03:55 I just, well, we'll get into some of the reasons why, but I thought the Lakers body language, and the way they were playing on the court and their tentativeness, JJ talked about indecisiveness during this game. They looked to me like they were very tight in this game. It was clearly not the only problem they had, but I thought it was a problem they had.

Starting point is 00:04:18 I think we may be talking about the same thing in kind of different ways. I think they looked overmatched and in that sense confused. Like JJ talked a little bit about it, Austin Reeves talked a little about it. There was just Oklahoma City was doing stuff to them that threw them off to the point. Like they didn't exactly know what the right response was supposed to be. I just think ultimately, and this really is sort of the measuring stick kind of thing,

Starting point is 00:04:49 I just feel like the Lakers were very quickly in this game kind of overwhelmed by the intensity of the pressure. that Oklahoma City could put on in every spot on the floor. There wasn't one of these situations where Luca could draw a double team at the top of the floor, create a four on three. Like none of that stuff was available, A, because Oklahoma City doesn't really need to double a lot. And all that's if when they do double, they can recover. And they don't leave weak spots anywhere.

Starting point is 00:05:26 Really, it doesn't matter who's on the floor. You and I were texting during the game, and we both arrived at the same independent thought that, like, the fourth or fifth best perimeter defender for the Thunder would be the Lakers designated stopper. Yeah. The amount of defense that they could put out there, by the way, without Jalen Williams, who was all defense, without New York, who I believe was first team all defense, without Aaron Wiggins, who was a lot of defense, without Aaron Wiggins, who was a lot of defense. a solid defender in his own right. It was quite good. It's just amazing what they are able to do, like in terms of just being able to send these waves of different guys who know exactly what they're supposed to be doing on both sides

Starting point is 00:06:16 of the ball. They know how to be disruptive. I think their disruptiveness, and this is part of what I'm talking about with the playing tight, led to a lot of bad decisions by the letters with the ball. I also thought a very bad omen for the Lakers early on. Luca basically picked up an intentional frustration foul very early in the first quarter. It was probably in the first five minutes. And he ended up picking up a second foul on an illegal screen that he was, it was an illegal

Starting point is 00:06:50 pick he set up for Jake LaRaby. It was clearly a correct call. But he was upset about, I believe, a non-call earlier. And I get it. And I'm not looking to debate Lucas' frustration. But he's had early foul trouble lately,

Starting point is 00:07:06 and he's far too important a player for the Lakers. Give away cheap files. And to be clear, that was not the reason the Lakers lost. No, but it wouldn't even crack the top point. It set a bad tone, though.

Starting point is 00:07:22 It set a tone, again, of tightness and indecisic. and frustration and a feeling of being overwhelmed that was palpable throughout the entire team. I mean, this was a game where nobody who mattered played well at all. No. It was a bad night for Luca. It was a bad night for Austin Reeves. Generally speaking, certainly without LeBron, when those two struggle, the team is going to struggle.

Starting point is 00:07:53 Well, I, and I don't mean this in a, you know, if the Lakers had him, you know, you can't judge this game because the Lakers didn't have LeBron. Like, you know, well, no, like you said, the Thunder didn't have Lou Dort. They didn't have Jalen Williams and they won by 40. It's like. And they were on the second end of a back to back. Granted, they didn't have to work very hard against the lawyers. No. But I actually, I mean, like, the most stunning statistic, I think that.

Starting point is 00:08:23 really crystallizes just how dominant Oklahoma City has been this year is the one that Shea has played in, he has sat, I should say, in seven of Oklahoma City's 12 fourth quarters. The team is that's completely in seven of 12 fourth quarters. The Thunder may actually be too good for SGA's quest to repeat as MVP. Like, it may lower his stats. The fact that it doesn't have to play enough might actually hurt him. I guess it might help him out, though, that Denver's doing some of the same stuff with Yokic. So maybe the two of them just sort of simultaneously go down a rug statistically because they're not needed as much. Yeah, Yokich, by the way, is hanging 55.

Starting point is 00:09:19 with four minutes left in the fourth quarters hanging 55 on the clippers. There goes my theory. He's having a decent game. I just, you know, and so the reason I bring these things up is just, you know, the gap here,

Starting point is 00:09:36 like this is just not a game and a roster the Lakers can really compete with short LeBron. I will say this as well. It is currently not a team. that they could compete with, I think, with LeBron. But they just, the thing that jumped off the screen to me was just the difference in the speed at which these two teams were playing. And I don't mean it's because the Lakers weren't trying or they weren't playing hard. But Oklahoma City made them look like they had five Kyle Anderson's on the floor.

Starting point is 00:10:14 Like it was just, it was a bunch of slow ones. Kyle Anderson is much too effective a defender to slam. You know, but I just do what I'm just saying. You got to pick a slower, worse defender because frankly, that just he's done too much in the league defensively over the years, despite the fact that he runs a 9-2-40 to slander him like that. I just don't think that's fair. I just don't have to play five of them. That's fair. It's true.

Starting point is 00:10:40 I don't want the Kyle Anderson stands coming after me. The Kyle. After the, after Kyle. I, after the break, let's let's, let's, let's, dig it a little bit more into this because I can be honest with you I'm not angry like you know they lost by like 100 points but I'm not angry about this and I'll explain why next Lockedown Lakers is brought to you by Wayfair the holiday season it is just around the corner and that means it's time to get your home ready whether you need more seating for guests cozy

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Starting point is 00:12:26 She called me. halfway through the first half. And she said, are you watching the Lakers? I said, because the game was on ESPNs. My parents, our parents who were in St. Louis could watch. I said, yes. And she said, they suck. She's always had away with words.

Starting point is 00:12:42 No, and she's not wrong. But I do like that she, after like 15, we've basically watched like 95% of the games that the Lakers have played in the last 15 years, maybe longer. And she still asks when she calls, are you watching the game? I would like to think it's 100% of the last 20 years because that's when we've been covering the team. But just like every once in a while we might miss a game. But like I just think she doesn't quite understand what we do for a living.

Starting point is 00:13:10 No, but she did understand that the Lakers were getting their asses handed to them. In this game, like 20 turnovers in all, 26 points off those turnovers. And it's not even just the idea that you give up 20 points off turnovers, even though clearly that is a problem. It's the 20 empty possessions. You cannot, even if the Lakers had only given up 13 points of those 20 turnovers, which still would have been a problem, it's 20 empty possessions.

Starting point is 00:13:44 You cannot give yourself 20 fewer opportunities to score against a team that good defensively as it is. You are just shooting yourself in the foot. everybody on this team, again, who matters, was guilty of egregious turnovers, whether you're talking about bad passes. Austin Reeves attempting to go behind the back against, you know, behind his back against one of the Thunder's great perimeter defenders, DeAndre Aiton, bobbling passes, Rui Hachamora, having the ball poked away from him on a weak attempt to get a pass when he was at a deep seat. It was a weak attempt by Ruey had.

Starting point is 00:14:26 to get the that's what I'm saying. Yeah. It was stuff like that. I just don't, the Lakers didn't respond to the pressure. Like, some of this is they don't have enough ball handling. You know,

Starting point is 00:14:43 the pressure that they were able to put on Luca, able to put on Reeves especially. And I think, you know, defenses like this are more of a challenge for Reeves because they can be so physical. They combine not just physicality, but also athleticism. They're quick and strong and physical and all these things.

Starting point is 00:15:04 And I think that can give Reeves some trouble. But like the Lakers just, you know, that play that you're talking about, Rui's down to the post, I do think they got a little bit too sort of whether it was sped up or single lane minded, whatever. There were a couple times where they sort of seemed focus on trying to take advantage of Rui down low, a lot of times matched up against Shea or whatever it might be. And I got them out of some of their rhythm. But Ruey had Shea on his back.

Starting point is 00:15:34 The entry pass comes in. And Ruey just thinks, I'm too big for Shea to be able to get the ball away from me. And Shea just, you know, who is a good defender, was able to kind of make a little shift, jump over his back a little bit, poke the ball away, no foul there. And Rue just was surprised. That was the Lakers all night. They were surprised to find Thunder players in places they did not expect them to be. And so, you know, we'll see.

Starting point is 00:16:06 The Lakers don't play Oklahoma City again. I don't think, I think it's in February is the next time they play them again. Yep. And I, and this gets to kind of the point I was making before. So there's a lot, or was going to make, there's a lot of time to see what happens between now and then.

Starting point is 00:16:22 but like they just they they seemed shocked at just how suffocating Oklahoma City was maybe it just didn't look the same way on film because I'm sure they've watched Oklahoma City play the game film of them I think when they got out on the floor it just was more than they expected yeah they just every time it every time it felt like the Lakers did something that maybe would spark a bit of momentum, OKC always had an answer. Like there was a sequence where Marcus Smart ended up putting in a desperation basket. Actually, it was actually in the second,

Starting point is 00:17:09 I believe this was in the second quarter. Yeah. And this was the first, by the way, it was like four minutes left in the second quarter. And that was the first basket that the Lakers had scored in the second quarter. and, you know, it's finally, okay, like maybe we're getting something going. OKC immediately scores. DeAndre Aiton clangs a dunk off a lob from Luca.

Starting point is 00:17:33 OKC immediately scores. Like every time the Lakers did something good, there was always an answer right away from OKC. Like it just, they could not sustain any momentum. them. They could not just get themselves in any type of rhythm. And OKC was just there. It's not even a matter of matching punch for punch because the Lakers didn't land enough punch. It was like matching one shove for every five punches from OKC. They were just that outmatched in everything they did. And you could you could tell too very early in this game. They recognize we cannot beat these guys tonight at the very least maybe not. You know, maybe down the road forever.

Starting point is 00:18:25 But that's sort of what I mean when I was saying in the first segment that I just felt like they looked overmatched and they knew they were overmatched. And there was just nothing that they were going to be able to do tonight.

Starting point is 00:18:38 I think that's a good way putting it because I don't think they've lost. It's like 12th game of the season. They have a 13th game. They have not decided to just go ahead pack it in. But I do think they looked at it and said we are not going to win

Starting point is 00:18:50 tonight. And I do, you know, it's, it's, it's funny to think, like you said in the first segment, and I agree with you. Like, Marcus Smart, would you agree? Would, oh, that was weird. Would you agree that Marcus Smart's the best defender the Lakers have? Probably people would agree. Him or Vando. Him or Vando. I mean, I think smart's probably a little bit more versatile and that. I think it depends on what you're looking for. Sure. But it's one of the, I mean, one of the other. It's clearly. one or the other. Where would smart, for the sake of argument,

Starting point is 00:19:29 say it's smart or Vanda, pick whichever one you think. Where would he be in the pecking order of best defenders on the thunder? I mean, off the top of my head, he'd be below Jay Will.

Starting point is 00:19:42 He'd be below Lou Dort. He'd be below Alex Caruso. Yep. Below chat. Okay, I was thinking more purely perenniferous. I'm just thinking everybody. Like, the totality of it matters because when you have, you know, the Lakers might be able to take a guy like Marcus Smart and put them on someone or whatever.

Starting point is 00:20:01 But if you can scheme around that a little bit, you can find weaker spots on the floor and try to attack those. The Thunder don't have that. And so, you know, when the Lakers get, even when they managed to make that next pass, there was no space there. The space that had been, the Lakers are good offensive. team. The space that they had expected to be there and was there in previous games just wasn't in this. But you know what, though? It's interesting. We can maybe talk about this more and also I thought JJ had some very interesting comments about this road trip in general and what lies ahead for the next

Starting point is 00:20:38 couple of games. They have a good offense, the Lakers, but there are times when the offense can revolve too much around what Luca generates. for himself or others, or what Austin generates for himself or others as singular forces, as opposed to kind of in concert with everybody else and sort of like a group working together, even if it's led or orchestrated, you know, primarily in one set by one guy. And we saw tonight what can happen when you have so many defenders who can account for even upper end individual offensive generators like Luca and Austin. Like this team in particular is built to face teams that are built like the Lakers right now.

Starting point is 00:21:33 I mean, LeBron being back will help along these lines. They do need, they just they needed LeBron in this. But they are they are so well equipped to specifically muck up the. way the Lakers look to create their offense. So yeah, let's get into that. And then I will tell you why I'm not super upset by what I saw on Wednesday. We'll do all that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by built.

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Starting point is 00:22:59 Make sure to use that link so they know we. Locked on Lick is also brought to you by Fandual, NBA. It's back and there's no better place to get in on the action. And Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. And even if you miss the start of a game, Andy, or want to ride the hot hand like everyone on the Oklahoma City Thunder, Fandual has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks.

Starting point is 00:23:23 Not something anybody was betting on the Lakers on Wednesday. Certainly hope not. Not if they wanted to win. I don't. Pro tip, this was not the time to, you know, ride the hot hand. What was the line? Like, bet $5 win $5 billion if the Lakers came back. I don't know.

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Starting point is 00:24:24 For starters, it was the game was so overwhelming. It was just like almost as like, well, this is what it is. Like there wasn't even like an opportunity to get mad about stuff. It sort of was over so fast. But here the biggest thing is I do think the Lakers came to play. I do think they took the game. seriously. This was not the Atlanta game. We talked on two on, on, on, on, on, four Wednesdays show going into the, the, the game about how like this is a measuring

Starting point is 00:25:02 game. It's like this is a chance to see. I agree. This is a chance to see. There, baby. Where you are compared to the best team in the NBA. And the answer. that we got in this ass kicking was far away. This is the gap. This is the measurement. It is better, I think, in some ways for the Lakers to have this exposed, have this exposure, have this scene where you see, you know, again, Oklahoma City played a good game.

Starting point is 00:25:40 The Lakers, I do not think, played a good game. They could do this again. You don't think they played a good game. No, but this wasn't like the Lakers playing at. their best and still lost by 40. They were not at their best. I mean, they're clearly better than what we saw tonight. Correct. There is a better version of the Lakers than what we saw tonight. That team still would have lost Oklahoma City playing like if Oklahoma City played like this. And so now the Lakers

Starting point is 00:26:05 have this like very clear thing that they can look at and say this is this is what we need to do. This is how we need to improve. This is the standard that we're. going to need to meet. We'll see again in February. You got a lot of time before you get another crack at this to see what kind of progress that they've made. It is one game. It is early in the season in the grand scheme of things losing to Oklahoma City on their floor is not that big a deal. The road trip questions and stuff aside, and I know you wanted to talk about that, and I think JJ is right to be pulling on that thread. But this game in a vacuum is, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:52 would I prefer the Lakers, you know, a great game where they play really well and they play tight, you know, play them tight down in the late in the fourth quarter or whatever? Obviously. But I think there's a lot that can come from this in terms of clarity of purpose and where they need to go. I understand what you're saying. And I'm sure we'll talk about this some as well for the show on Friday, leading up to the game in New Orleans. I understand what you're saying about it not being a catastrophe to lose to the thunder on their floor.

Starting point is 00:27:31 And I agree with you. And even tonight, I'm not going to say as a season-defining catastrophe because we're in game 12. That being said, all losses even to very good. teams on the road are not created equally. They lost by damn near 30 points. Like that is pretty bad. Because they amount to the fourth quarter comeback. But you know what I'm saying? But they were down by more than that is what I'm getting at. I mean, great. They won the garbage time minutes. I mean, like, who cares? I mean, seriously, who gives an F? That's a well of it. Right. My point is they got beat by more than the final score would indicate. Yes, which makes my point

Starting point is 00:28:10 even more. Like there's, this is not a loss that I would take. I don't think you mean it casually, but I'm just saying it's not a loss that I would look at as they're playing the defending champs on the road. It's been a long road trip. Like these things can happen.

Starting point is 00:28:31 Like they were very bad in this game. It exposed a lot of issues that they're, that have recurred at times, like, you know, for example, Austin, as great as Austin has played to open this season. You know, what can happen for him with his style of play when he is up against really good defenders who are out, who are not just there to, you know, defend a guy like Austin, but they are often stronger than him.

Starting point is 00:29:02 They are more physical than him. Some of them are bigger than him. Like these sorts of things, even again, acknowledging Austin's been off to a great start and he is a really good player. But these are the moments that are going to make Laker fans question whether or not he can be at the station that it seems like the Lakers are planning for him to be at. You know, Luca, you know, Luca was very frustrated in this game very early. And if nothing else, it's going to raise some questions temperamentally because that hasn't been the case for him at all this season.

Starting point is 00:29:42 You know, DeAndre Aiton was invisible in this game. Erased. Absolutely erased. You know, Rui was not a factor that they needed him to be. You know, Jake LaRavia was pretty terrible in this game. And again, it was a collectively bad effort. I just, I agree with you that there are things that they can keep working on moving forward. There's a lot of time.

Starting point is 00:30:09 It's good to learn some. of this stuff early. I guess my concern is, for me, it didn't feel like so much things that were learned as things that were accentuated that we already had signs about. Sure. And I'm not, I don't like, the Atlanta game, I think you can look at me like, whatever, flush it. Like, the explanation is simple. They didn't play hard. Go play hard and a lot of that gets fixed. I don't, all implying that they should look at the results of this game and take it casually. I actually think they should be quite serious about what happened on the floor because this is the standard that, you know, that was shown to them. And, you know, you've mentioned Reeves' struggles.

Starting point is 00:30:55 Luca essentially struggled for a lot of the same reasons. Yes, Lucas is better. Lucas is bigger and better than Reeves is, but they both struggled for essentially the same reasons. And Oklahoma City defended them essentially the. kind of the same way. I'm not, nothing about, I think,

Starting point is 00:31:11 how they should react to this should be casual. And I think Laker fans should absolutely, you know, I get all the, the angst and the disappointment. I'm just saying it is,

Starting point is 00:31:23 the clarity that comes from this game, assuming that they take it seriously, they now have a measurement that is abundantly clear of where and how, and how they need to improve the things that they have to get better at. Quite frankly, I think they risk seeing a version of this against a Denver team that doesn't have quite as many defenders as Oklahoma City does,

Starting point is 00:31:52 but has a lot of athleticism and a lot of guys who can be disruptive like this. This is what the Lakers are going to have to fix over the course of the season if they're going to be a contending team of the West. and I just assume them get that kind of pummeled into them early, then have it not be there. Yeah, I want to table a little bit of what JJ said as far as the road trip and his assessing. Introduce it a little bit just so people are aware of it,

Starting point is 00:32:23 because we can get into it a lot for tomorrow. He said that he has not liked what he has seen from this team for the most part in this road trip. He said other than basically the second half against Charlotte. and if your high point is half a game against the Charlotte Hornets, that's not a strong road trip. I wanted to also point out two things, because we didn't talk about it in great detail,

Starting point is 00:32:47 but I think people can probably pick up on it. But either way, the defense was not just bad in this game by the Lakers. It was bad in ways that showed lacking athleticism, in ways that showed lacking individual capabilities bad cohesion between there. I mean, there were so many just obvious miscommunications and guys clearly anticipating everyone else being in a different spot. And then this comment from Ron Moody, I think, sums up the alarm that can be,

Starting point is 00:33:23 the alarm bells that can be rung from this game. Yeah, they did play bad. But when they play bad, we fall off a deep cliff talent and athleticism. way, too many players who can't do anything on their own. And I don't, again, we have both been, you know, high on this team. You know, we've never called them contenders or, you know, inner circle contenders, but we both thought that they are a good team heading into the year. And I think we both still think they are a good team. But they are a team that I think this is to Ron's point, and it's a good one. They are a team that when their weaknesses get picked at,

Starting point is 00:34:02 it's really easy to turn them into like deep gaping cuts. Yeah, I think that's fair. And the athletic is they solved some of their problems, not solved. They, they improved and addressed some of their problems over the offseason. The one thing they did not do, and I don't know how they could have necessarily, but the one thing they did not do was improve, substantively improve their athleticism. Because even somebody like Smart, who has improved their defense, isn't an athlete in the way that we talk about it with the NBA. Look, man, I said this.

Starting point is 00:34:45 I remember in a recent show, you and I were debating this, you know, because we were talking about the lack of athleticism for this team and the concerns about athleticism. And you brought up that they won 50 games last year with athleticism concerns, which is true. But a big foundation of those wins were in the pre-Luca stage. That's when they had AD. It's when they had Max Christie, two guys who definitely, I mean, even as a team lacking athleticism, those two guys relatively brought up their athleticism compared to the rest of the guys on the roster pretty high. I think Jordan Goodwin raised, again, relatively speaking to who was on the roster,

Starting point is 00:35:25 raised their athleticism. I would argue their athleticism, I think their talent this year is better than certainly the team that faced Minnesota in the first round. I think they have a better roster and a more talented roster. But I actually think their roster this year is less athletic than the roster last year. I think it's sort of improves in some places you lose it and others. But overall, it was a relatively unathletic roster by NBA standards last year. Yes. relatively unathletic roster by NBA standards this year.

Starting point is 00:35:58 And so I, but the discrepancies could dictate how much you can still get by on the lower end of athleticism. Like it's all incremental. It's all relative. They just, they have, we'll talk about it tomorrow. They just, they have to, in games against teams like this, they have to be at a high end of execution. Yep.

Starting point is 00:36:18 You know, I think this possession thing that you talked about, I want to, I want to get into tomorrow. Um, because I think it's emblematic. the kinds of things that they have to fix. So we'll do that. Lockdown-Lakers on YouTube is we're going to go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers. I'm sorry, 37,000, 37,000 subscribers to the channel. Of course, thanks to everybody for making us the number one sports network in this or any other universe. We certainly appreciate it. We will see everyone tomorrow.

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