Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - What Went Wrong in Game 4, and How the Lakers Can Improve in Game 5

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers took it on the chin in game four. How can they prevent the same in game five? 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 to everybody for stopping by Locked on Lakers. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kamanetsky, Lakers lose game four in pretty convincing fashion,

Starting point is 00:00:35 115-96 final score. The series now returns back to L.A. Lakers get an extra day off to recoup. Houston, too, but we're more concerned about the Lakers. And game five will be on Wednesday, 7 o'clock at the crypt. So, I mean, I will say this, Andy. Had game four happened in game one, I think we'd all be a lot more concerned.

Starting point is 00:01:03 But it didn't. happened in game four after the Lakers took the first three. I had some hopes maybe that they could win this game, but it was more based on Houston deciding to just pack up the tent and go home than it was like I thought the Lakers were just going to come out and dust them. Houston, to their credit, came out and played. I think they'll play hard again in game five. But the question becomes was what we saw,

Starting point is 00:01:35 something that we should expect for the rest of the series for however long that goes. I mean, just tacking on a little bit to what you were saying before, I had not thought that they were going to pack up the tents down 3-0 unless the Lakers really forced them into that. And the big reason that I didn't think that was going to be the case was because the Lakers went into halftime up 12 in game three. And that would have been a prime opportunity for the Rockets just to say, F this, man.

Starting point is 00:02:09 Like, we've spent a lot of this season reportedly not enjoying each other's company. There's been a lot of tension. There's a lot not working. Who knows if Kevin Durant is ever going to be back in this series, we're done. And instead, to their credit, they fought pretty hard. And they got backing that thing before. But they lost. And then they were down three nothing.

Starting point is 00:02:32 Right. I know. I know. But the fact that they fought in the second half of game three led me to believe that it was going to take the Lakers convincing them to give up as opposed to just deciding 1, 2, 3 Cancun before the game even began. Well, and this, this though I will say too, is where the sort of relative vulnerability of the Lakers, or it's not the way, it's a way, it's another way. where it hurts them because a team, if you were ever going to believe in your ability to do something that is quite literally unprecedented,

Starting point is 00:03:14 you want that feeling that the team that you're playing, it helps to feel that the team you're playing is vulnerable. And the Lakers still are, even with Austin Reeves coming back. Like they are potentially coming back. Potentially. We don't know if he is. We don't know, potentially coming back.

Starting point is 00:03:36 The Lakers need to be able to find ways to correct certain things that happened in game, in game four. Most notable to me is, I mean, you can't necessarily control, do shots go in, do shots not go in. But what you can't control is how you get them. And to that extent, they need to find ways to do a better job to make sure that. that Houston doesn't get to focus all their attention on LeBron. I think the more time they spend along the perimeter for the outset of possessions and for like the opening 10 or so seconds of possessions, I think the more they're doing Houston favors,

Starting point is 00:04:23 the more generally speaking they spend facing up along the arc against Houston's defenders, the more they are doing the Rockets' favors. I think they need to try to find more ways we saw it earlier in the season of having, say, Lou Canard or Marcus Smart bringing the ball up, letting LeBron off the ball. Right. Excuse me. Yeah, early in the series. Start to let LeBron set up shop more in the post, try to let him get position that he wants.

Starting point is 00:04:54 The more of LeBron's turnovers, particularly over the last two games, where LeBron has been turning the ball over a lot, I do think, and I said it post-game in game three and four, I think fatigue plays a role in it. I think some of this is just game three was exhausting. In game four, I think there was a residual effect from that game three. But we've seen LeBron lose the ball more when he's getting stripped, faced up, you know, faced up against the defender as opposed to posting up stuff like that. I think he just becomes more vulnerable because he can't beat defenders off the speed. spot the way he used to. So I think they need to try to find ways to help LeBron avoid that, you know, as much as

Starting point is 00:05:39 possible over the course of 48 minutes or at the very least allow more time in the first half, first three quarters so he can preserve energy for the times where maybe he wants to do that maybe more in the fourth quarter. I think in general, they need to just be more intentional and precise with the passage. that they do make. Again, I think fatigue was a massive factor in what happened for a lot of game three and pretty much all of game four. But Houston's defense deserves credit for, I think, over the course of four games, becoming more effective and disruptive. And, you know, for Reed Shepard, for all the talk about his defensive issues, and they do exist. And the Lakers

Starting point is 00:06:28 have tried to put him in compromised positions, he actually is pretty good as a ball hawk. Like he can be disruptive with steals and deflections and things like that. So they just need to make sure I think that they're more precise, more intentional with the passes that they make, make sure things are timed well, stuff like that. They need to continue treating themselves even up 3-1 as a team with a very low margin for error,

Starting point is 00:06:56 because in reality that's what they are. Yeah, I, the, the tough part for the Lakers, especially with Reeves doesn't play. But in this, this gets significantly, this changes significantly if Reeves does is, and I think, you know, you talked on Monday for the big show just about like the Lakers not having in JJ talked about this after game four. Like there are only, there are fewer levers for them to pull. Um, because the, the skill set, you know, the, Don't create off the dribble like he used to. And once get past LeBron, you know, Kinnard's played quite well,

Starting point is 00:07:37 but he's not exactly a shot creator out of the back court. And Smart can do it, but like you don't want, like, let's, you know, set up Marcus Smart for isolation drives. It's not exactly what you want to be doing. He's the rub, though. He's probably been the best Laker at getting into the teeth of defense. in this series, better or worse.

Starting point is 00:08:02 What you need, you know, the biggest thing that they'll get back from Reeves, when we talk about this after the break, we're assuming that he does play,

Starting point is 00:08:12 and again, he's trending in that direction, doesn't play in game five, certainly seems like he could be ready for game six, unless the Lakers are just posturing. It's one of those deals where Reeves' ability

Starting point is 00:08:28 to get into the paint and the shot creation and all that kind of stuff. Being able to draw files, particularly at home if he plays in game five, all that stuff. Like that's, I think, the natural limit of what they're, like the, it's really hard to do stuff when you can't when you don't have guys who can kind of create their own shot, get in the paint, and create their own stuff. So we'll talk about that a little bit next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drinking. If someone with a sweet tooth, you know it can be tough to find the perfect treat without all.

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Starting point is 00:09:36 You just don't pick me up. You can put the thing in your pocket. You're on the go with more energy. Get candy-flavored chaos with fruity rainbow five-hour energy shots, available online at five-hourenergy.com or Amazon. It was funny because, like, Andy in Game 4, like, again, I'm not trying to pump up Brony is like the solution to L.A.'s problems. But like in the five minutes he played,

Starting point is 00:10:08 he managed to get into the paint two or three times. And you could see just like to create shots. Like the Lakers need to be able to get the ball into the post when they were effective, you know, finding Aiton in advantageous positions. And it worked. And he had a great game until he was unfairly chucked out of the game in the third quarter. I mean, Albert Shingunun said after the game that he thought

Starting point is 00:10:29 Aiton's objection was soft. And he's the guy that actually got hit in the face. Like, he should have at least gotten a vote. Yeah, it was definitely a flagrant one, the idea that it was a flagrant too. This happens fairly frequently in the NBA where you see a scuffle in a game like the night before or two days before or whatever. And everybody freaks out about it. And you get games that are too tightly called.

Starting point is 00:10:54 I think the referees were looking at this as like, all right, guys, there's maybe a blowout coming here and let's let's keep this under control and so on and de And Andre. Except they hadn't been fighting. That's the only problem with that logic. Not been an unusually chippy game. When they got the ball into the paint that way and touched the paint that way, it was it was effective when you know, they just need to find other ways to get dribble penetration. And it's it's hard to do that with LeBron. They need to get it with ball movement. You need to get it off of closeouts, you know, from people, overplaying Luke Kinnard.

Starting point is 00:11:32 It's one of the reasons the offense works so well. Not only did Kinnard hit five of five from three point range in that game, when he's doing that kind of stuff, then those little pump fakes and all that kind of stuff were. Lakers had two three-pointers, two, before garbage time in game four. And that's just not going to stretch out. You've got to threaten Houston to make them close out hard. Obviously, if they had to close out hard on three-point shooters,

Starting point is 00:11:59 it's easier to get into the paint. So that's one way to do it. But the other way to do is just have guys who can put the ball on the floor and find their way into the paint. Obviously, Luca is as good as anybody in the league at that. And AR is pretty close behind in terms of the next tier of guys

Starting point is 00:12:18 who are really good at getting in the lane and in drawing traffic, creating a crowd, finding open people, drawing fouls for themselves, whatever it might be. And so, I mean, beyond the, he's capable of 25, 30, 35 points in a night where he's going well, Reeves adds back in a skill set that the Lakers desperately need.

Starting point is 00:12:44 And so his availability in game five, if it does come to that, really makes a significant difference in what's going to happen, especially if Kevin Durant's still on the sidelines. I think they also, too, they need to make sure that they're playing with a good tempo and they want to be playing quickly and crisply. They need to avoid getting themselves sped up. Like a lot of their turnovers seem to happen when it feels like they're going a beat or two too fast

Starting point is 00:13:11 or they're trying a little bit too hard to make something happen before the opportunities. I think it's because they don't feel confident in their ability to get a shot off. And so like you feel like, oh, I got to be aggressive and I got to get this thing. If it's I got to go. And like so when you're when,

Starting point is 00:13:28 when there's not. not a lot of rhythm as there's been none in the last six quarters. You feel like both you need to take advantage of whatever opportunity is there, because there may not be another opportunity to shoot, but also you feel the need, well, we have to stay aggressive. And so I think those are kind of conspiring against the Lakers in the last six or so quarters. Yeah, I'd also like to see a little bit more focus on offball cutting off ball action. Like the Lakers, the first, I would say,

Starting point is 00:13:59 the first two and a half games when their offense, you know, it has not been perfect this entire time, but their percentages were very good. Turnovers have been an issue for them this entire series, but the first two and a half games, their percentages from the field have actually been very good. And I think their off ball action in particular has been very good, whether you're talking about Rui making cuts, Luke Kinnard running a lot of curls, DHAs with either Jackson or DA, like a lot of guys in motion, I think making it more difficult for Houston to figure out what they're going to be doing, but also just putting themselves less in these ISO-type setups where you actually, again, are doing Houston's defense that is set up to guard something like that. Like the defenders that they have are very well equipped for that type of more stagnant ISO.

Starting point is 00:14:55 So, like, that's really what they want from you. The more the Lakers just keep moving, again, with purpose, they need to really get themselves back on the same page. And I doubt they will practice in any significant way on Monday, but I imagine they will on Tuesday. They probably could use a little time workshopping again, just getting themselves back on the same page, back to one. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:15:21 And just working on some of the basics, because JJ said their playbook at this point, maybe it expands a little bit if Austin comes back, but there are limits to what they can do and the sets that they generate because of who is missing. So they need to make sure everything they are doing is with more precision. I would guess that a Tuesday practice,

Starting point is 00:15:44 it would do them a lot of good just as an overall tune-up. Yeah, that's what I was thinking, as you were saying. is like there's a you know a lot of this is what Houston was doing like Houston the tape is there now after three games and it was pretty clear after you know by the time he got to about half time

Starting point is 00:16:05 in game three that you know the rockets had kind of decided how they were going to start defending and a little more aggressive a little more physical and all these other things and the Lakers I don't know how many counters they have to it beyond like in the first half of game three they made a lot of shots like the you know

Starting point is 00:16:26 Rui came out and hit six straight shots like that kind of thing to some degree needs to happen doesn't have to be Rui to be someone where the Lakers are hitting enough shots that the rockets have to respond

Starting point is 00:16:42 the more stagnant the more cold the offense gets the more pressure they can put on them which cycles this whole thing up so how many different buttons they can push, how many different ways they can go. It's hard to say because, like you said, they're down so much talent. And the skill set to generate those shots is limiting.

Starting point is 00:17:01 That's, again, whether it's five, game six, whatever it is, if they get Austin back, it's going to make a significant difference in what they do. And the last thing I would say is when you say whether it's game five, game six, that is an upside way of looking at it. The downside way, though, is the last six quarters, Houston has been progressively playing better. So the longer this thing goes, even if it eventually includes getting Austin back, the problem is Houston may be trending more towards getting better themselves to a way where it could potentially offset a little bit more of Austin returning. I'm still not particularly worried about

Starting point is 00:17:41 where the Lakers stand in this series. Were I to put money on it, I think they're going to cash the thing out in game five. The series is set up just until the Lakers get their players back at least and by the way the longer the series goes the more likely it is Durant plays too. The series is set up that a longer series in some ways favors the Lakers in terms of like pressure on Houston or whatever, although in this case now that everything, now the Lakers got up three nothing, the longer the series goes, pressure actually I think goes back to the Lakers. But the other thing that that impacts it is the limitations of the Lakers. it's going to get progressively easier to defend them over the course of the series.

Starting point is 00:18:29 And I don't know how many the Lakers probably have fewer counters. The flip side is without Kevin, or it's like Houston made a bunch of shots on Sunday. And the Lakers helped them by turning the ball over a ton. If they don't turn the ball over and they make the rockets make shots, Lakers are still a favorite team. So plenty to cover over the course of the week. break start breaking it all down heck maybe we'll talk to jackson and gatlin again who knows

Starting point is 00:18:55 lock on lakers on youtube is where you can hang out with over 38 000 subscribers of the channel see everyone next time

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - What Went Wrong in Game 4, and How the Lakers Can Improve in Game 5

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