Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Who Guards Shai? Can LA's Centers and Bench Step Up? What to Watch Vs. OKC

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers have a tough matchup Thursday night in Oklahoma City. We'll tell you why centers and bench players could be the difference between winning and losing us 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 joining Locked on Lakers. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kemenacki. It is going to be a fun one Thursday night in Oklahoma City. Lakers versus Thunder.

Starting point is 00:00:35 It is impossible to be hotter than the Lakers, Andy, unless you're the Thunder, who are just as hot. The entire top of the Western Conference has lost like five games in the last four or five weeks between the Lakers Thunder, and Spurs, and just teams playing incredibly high level. And in this one, unlike the last time these two teams played,

Starting point is 00:01:01 Luke Dodgich is available. will be playing and whether you want to look at this game as a sort of referendum on who's going to win the MVP, like if people still have their votes out, whether you're looking at it as a potential playoff matchup, trying to foreshadow what could be coming, whatever it is, you're going to be able to find something really fun and it's probably a combination of all that stuff. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I was thinking about this.

Starting point is 00:01:32 The question was posed to me during my weekly 710 ESPN show in LA, Lakers talk. If the Lakers won both of these games and Luca outplayed Shea, would that potentially push Luca to the top of the MVP race? And I said, in theory it should. In actuality, I don't think it will. Because if the Thunder lose both of those games, it creates that much more of an opportunity. for the Spurs to reach the number one seed, in which case Wembe will likely win MVP. So basically you need like Zach Galvanakis in the hangover with all the numbers spinning

Starting point is 00:02:14 around. You need the thunder to win every game except the ones against the Lakers and San Antonio to lose a bunch of games. Like it gets super, super complicated. If nothing else, if that scenario happened and Victor Wemignamma wins MVP, he should at least have the graciousness to thank Luca in his speech because Luca in all likelihood will play a role in him getting it. I think that's a great point.

Starting point is 00:02:41 This is a genuinely first world problem for the NBA. Like it's I kind of wish these debates didn't get reduced down to tear your guy down to elevate my guy, meaning the media person who thinks Shay should be over Luca, you know, you find these ways to sort of tear down what luca's done if you're a luca guy you you you you tear down wemby he's not been this he's not been that like these players are so good the level at which luca shay uh wemby i would put yokech in that category still because you know we've almost become immune to the type of stuff that he does and the quality with which he doesn't i i really love that the matchup though

Starting point is 00:03:32 it is MVP related it is going to be absolutely central to the debate and the discussion and it's going to everything people are going to be talking about on TV, on sports radio, whatever it is on Friday in the context of the NBA is going to be done through this game

Starting point is 00:03:51 with Shea versus Luca and all this stuff. It's perfect for the NBA. And I just, I also love that it's between two teams that are playing as well and dominating as much as you possibly can at this time of the season. Yeah, and speaking of the matchups, one of the facets that I'm going to be watching for that may not be considered as marquee, but I think it could be really interesting both for this game, but also looking big picture at the Lakers, is the battle of the big men. And D'Andre Aiton and Jackson Hayes is a tandem versus Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein.

Starting point is 00:04:33 And I think a lesser but still tangible degree center, Jalen Williams. And like on paper, it feels pretty decisively advantage O'KC because Chet is easily the best of the four players of four and a half that I mentioned depending on again, how much you figure J. Will will factor into this. But Chet's easily the best of the four. And I think Isaiah Hartensstein is the second best. Like he is, if nothing else, the best overall two-way well-rounded player between him and D.A. and Hayes. That being said, though, DeAndre Aitin and Jackson Hayes have played really well of late. Like, they have been a big part of the last four to six weeks that have changed the perceptions of the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:05:19 They played on Tuesday against Jared Allen and Evan Mowgli, certainly. no slouch front court, and they outplayed him. Like other than a good first half for Jared Allen, a really big first half, but a lot of those points that he got were actually on switches against Littles as opposed to directly against D.A. or directly against Hayes. Alan was silent in the second half. Evan Mobley had a completely nothing game. And both Aiton and Hayes, particularly Aiton, outplayed those guys.

Starting point is 00:05:54 And whether you're defining this as outplaying them in terms of the counting stats, DA and Jacks versus Chet and Isaiah, or in terms of different types of impact, maybe getting them into foul trouble, things like that, I think that could be a big plus for this game, but it also could be a potential sign of just the Lakers in the postseason. We've talked about before how the center position right now is at minimum just better than last year heading to the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:06:24 at best a legit strength. So this game and then the one on April 7th, Tuesday, pretty good tests of that theory and the potential of it. I look at it this way too. It's not you laid it out probably. I think people might argue about Hartnstein versus Aten, and whatever. It sort of depends on what you like and what you want and what you need.

Starting point is 00:06:50 I think Hartnstein is at the very least more consistent and coaches would probably say a guy you feel like you could rely on a little bit more overtime than Aiton. But, you know, JJ Redick has no problems with DeAndre Aiden over the last, you know, six weeks of the season. Like he's, you know, he was very pleased and rightly so. The Lachet's better than all these guys. Like there's no question. But the Lakers centers don't need to outplay Oklahoma cities. It's not a matter of...

Starting point is 00:07:23 We're playing to a draw, even. And I wouldn't even say that. Well, I would say it in this way. It's not about like you look at the stats at the end of the night. Hartnstein and Chet combined for 32 points, 11 rebounds, whatever. You look at the Lakers, they did 27 points, 14 rebate, where you're like statistically equal. People will call that playing to a draw.

Starting point is 00:07:47 What I would say playing to a draw is in this case, or perhaps exceeding that, is exceeding where you, like where your station is relative to your team. Like, Chet is supposed to do, Chet's an All-Star. He is supposed to do things. O NDA. Right. He is supposed to outperform those guys.

Starting point is 00:08:11 So if you can narrow the sort of expected gap between the output of your bigs versus the output of their bigs. And like you say, that can be statistical impact. It could be, you know, an intangibles impact, whatever it is. If the Lakers narrow that gap, that's a win for the Lakers, even if the stats favor Oklahoma City, because the stats should favor Oklahoma City. To that point, the thing that I'm looking at and really interested in seeing, is kind of related to what you're getting at there and what I'm getting at in response.

Starting point is 00:08:58 We'll talk about it next. Lockdown-Lakers is brought to you by Quo and Spring. This is a natural reset point. And if there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses money, messy communication, miscall, scattered text, no clear thread of who said what. And that's why you need Quo, Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3,000 reviews trusted by more than 90,000 businesses. It lets your entire team share one business number so you never miss a call, text, or opportunity.

Starting point is 00:09:33 Everything lives in one clean thread, calls, texts, voicemails. The whole team sees the conversation. So nothing falls through the cracks. It just makes your business feel more organized, more responsive. Make this the season where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try Quo for free and then get 20% off your six months, your first six months at quo.com slash locked on MBA. That's QUO.com slash locked on MBA.

Starting point is 00:09:58 Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. Locked on liquor is also brought to you by game time. There's nothing like being in an NBA arena, whether that's, you're talking about the crowd, the energy, the moment, you know, playoffs are rolling around, folks, and that is a special time to be watching from inside the building, but getting tickets is not always been simple. That's why GameTime has become the go-to app

Starting point is 00:10:22 for scoring tickets fast without the hassle. It puts the advantage back where it belongs with the fans. In our house, we usually use GameTime for things like MLS tickets or women's soccer, but that's Angel City, L.A.F.C., Galaxy. We've actually even used it for Disney on ice, like stuff like that. You can use Game Time for anything that requires a ticket. I like you because you get the up front pricing, all in, fees, everything. I see exactly what the ticket's going to cost when I'm surfing around,

Starting point is 00:10:53 looking at the different tickets I could buy. Kids like it because they can see the seed views and exactly what the field's going to look like and all that. So it's a great way to do things last minute. Look for those deals. Get yourself into the arena, the stadium, wherever you're going. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code locked on for $20. off your first purchase. That's LOCK EDO for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today.

Starting point is 00:11:20 And remember, it's gametime.com.com. And finally, Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandul. The tournament's here. One of the best times of the year, brackets, buzzer beaters, upsets, nonstop action from tip off to the final cut down. And right now, Fandul is giving new customers away to stay in the action all tournament long. And here's the best part. You get up to $300 back in bonus bet. every day for 10 days. And that means 10 chances to stay involved throughout the entire tournament. You can mix it up however you want,

Starting point is 00:11:51 game picks, futures, even same game parlays for bigger potential payouts. It's perfect for the tournament because every day there's something new, different matchups, new storylines, more ways to get involved as the bracket unfolds. So visit fanduel.com to sign up today.

Starting point is 00:12:07 That's fandwell.com to get in on the action. So another area that I'm really curious about is bench play. Not so much from the Thunder, who, you know, we talked about this for the big show on Thursday. Like the Thunder, I think rightly are seen as having a deeper team once you get past their stars, like a more potentially productive bench, like all that. They're deep once you get past their like second unit.

Starting point is 00:12:40 It's crazy how deep they are. I don't think this was a hot take. But anyway, the Lakers bench has been productive in sort of different ways over the course of this streak that they're on. And what I really want to see isn't like, can the Lakers bench outperform Oklahoma cities, similar to what we were talking about the first segment, I don't think that's the right measurement. Can they outperform

Starting point is 00:13:19 what you would expect from the Lakers bench in a game like this? Hostile crowd on the road, role players tend not to play as well on the road than they do at home. So what do you get from Rui Hachamura coming off the bench as sort of the primary score? What do you get out of Jackson Hayes

Starting point is 00:13:38 as a big who's played really well? well and all of that, but, you know, this is a different kind of environment. Can you get 12 points out of Luke Canard? Can you find, you know, Jake Laravia is going to be starting in this game almost surely, but can you, because Marcus Smart's not going to play, but can you get, you know, 10 to 12 relatively efficient points out of La Ravia? What do these other guys do? Lakers are going to win this game off of Luca, LeBron, Austin,

Starting point is 00:14:08 and to some extent maybe somebody like Aiton. But they need a certain amount from those other dudes. Can they hit that bar? Well, the good news is the Lakers, they have been for a lot of the season, as good if not a better road team than they were a home team. And by definition, that means the role players and the guys off the bench

Starting point is 00:14:30 have been doing reasonably well because I think it's just hard to find that much success on the road if none of your bench players are even, semi-regular showing up. But in terms of the production that you get from someone like Rui, for example, and this is a drum I have beat all season, I beat the same drum last season. Rui's production is directly dependent on how much you give him the ball. Like you have to be proactive in finding him and creating those shots.

Starting point is 00:15:00 Like he shoots at a super efficient clip, but he's also not somebody, he's got a rep as a gunner. But the truth is he doesn't really force a lot of shots for a guy that is first and foremost a scorer. He just doesn't force the issue. So some of the production from Rui or the production from Luke Kinnard is going to be directly connected to how much is the ball finding them. How much are Luca, LeBron, and Austin making an effort to do that? And this is important not just, I think, because you want to get the most out of the those guys to help keep pace with OKC. OKC is also a team that if you are monopolizing the ball too much and trying to go ISO,

Starting point is 00:15:45 that is deadly, like in terms of the effect on the Lakers. The Thunder will gladly see Luca or Austin or LeBron look to try to go as ISO-heavy as possible. Even with a guy like Luca in the grand scheme of things, they'll take their chances with that. And you have to be careful when you move the ball against a team like the Thunder that's so disruptive defensively and so long and active and they anticipate well. But at the same time, if you allow the ball to stick, you're doing them a favor. And the thing that I find, you know, different about OKC. And if you go back to that game, that 119, loss February 9th, if you look at that game, you know, the Lakers got good production. not a Jake. I mentioned him

Starting point is 00:16:36 needing a good game. He had 14. That night made to the line six times. Jackson gave them 12. He did have 10 rebounds, but he was pretty quiet. He did have 10 rebounds, but he was pretty quiet. From a scoring standpoint, this was a game still where Austin was still coming off the bench.

Starting point is 00:16:53 And obviously, no, you know, no Luca kind of skews what the Lakers do. Oklahoma City got 17 from Caruso, 19 from Isaiah Joe, Jalen Williams. other Jalen Williams was in in double figures. And so the challenge for the Lakers, though, the type of defender particularly that they are up against

Starting point is 00:17:17 as a second unit as a supporting cast is just more challenging. It's more difficult than you typically get with a second unit because Oklahoma City is just so deep defensively. the normal job of, you know, yes, you're right. They play, you know, the Lakers have played a little better on the road. And they're used to all that kind. It's just it is a tougher assignment against Oklahoma City because of that depth. I mean, it's the reason why they are still considered the consensus to win the championship and repeat.

Starting point is 00:17:50 They're that good. Yep. We will see what goes on, Andy, in this game. You and I are both excited just to see. like it's another measuring stick game for the lakers if they come through this one whether it's a victory a loss but if they come through with a highly competitive game i think we're we're in business here uh so we'll see what goes on here locked on lakers on youtube is we can go hang out with over 38 000 subscribers the channel of course be back after the game break it all then

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Who Guards Shai? Can LA's Centers and Bench Step Up? What to Watch Vs. OKC

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.