Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Why the Suddenly Hot Lakers Have a Chance to Rise in the Western Conference

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Monday, Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, why the suddenly hot Lakers have a chance to make some noise and move up in the West. We'll explain next. You are Locked on Lakers, your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Lockton Lakers, your first listen to every day. Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast, this one is always, going to be free. It is never going to be behind a paywall and locked on Lakers on YouTube

Starting point is 00:00:39 is where you can go hang out with over 26,000 subscribers, Andy, all of whom are feeling a lot better about the Lakers. And they did say two and a half weeks ago or whatever you want to go back to it because the vibes around this team have definitely shifted over the last five games and actually have a very good chance and a good opportunity to shift even more, which we'll explain momentarily after we tell you that today's episode is brought to you by Fandul, the NFL playoffs are almost here. Rams. Yeah. But let's not get too late, but it's not too late to get on the regular season action with Van Duel, because right now new customers can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus bets. If your first $5 bet wins, that's visitFanduel.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Went up. All right, Andy. So it's amazing how quickly, you know, the 82 game season, full of ebbs and flows. We all know that. But like the shift from where the Lakers were in the stretch of games up to Miami, to where they suddenly find themselves now, both in going from losing to winning and then how they're winning, is one of the most remarkable little mini turns that I've seen. And we've been watching this for a long time.

Starting point is 00:02:03 This is not normal what the Lakers have been doing over the last five games as compared to what they were doing before. Well, I mean, it's interesting in the sense that you could look at last season. Remember when all of a sudden, Darwin leaned into the super defense heavy lineup after groupings that were not particularly strong offensively. And it did actually work for a little while until once it stopped working, it started. It worked until it didn't. Right. But that being said, I think the extreme lows of this season defensively were worse than the lows Darwin was trying to offset last year.

Starting point is 00:02:46 What also I think, though, was interesting about this is it's not just that they have reversed the tone and the effectiveness so much defensively in ways you and I didn't expect, fans didn't expect. I think they did this in ways they did not expect. And there was an interesting quote from JJ Redick after Saturdays went over the Kings where he said, quote,

Starting point is 00:03:10 I felt coming into the year we could be a top 10 defense. Month, month and a half into the season, did not feel we could be a top 10 defense. But the guys have responded. I mean, it's been consistent throughout the year. They've really responded to the things we've emphasized to adjustments we made, to clarity that we created to adversity,

Starting point is 00:03:27 all those things. So I like where we're trending here. Like there's stuff that you can see where there's real trust building on that side of the ball. And that's interesting to me on a few fronts. First, it reflects how there had been a point earlier in the season when the defense was just really struggling. And both JJ Reddick and Austin Reeves said on the record, like, look, we know we don't

Starting point is 00:03:52 have the typical personnel to be a lockdown defense. Like our roster is not made up of those guys. And it is unusual to hear a player and a coach that early in the season. You know, Anthony Davis said, like, look, you know, we're hoping to be just like a, you know, like a mid, middle of the pack defense. It's unusual to hear that many people say in so many words like, yeah, we know we're not built for this. Like we usually people at least say the politically correct thing that you're supposed to at least try to realize. enforce or whatever before eventually conceding it on the court, if not in words. But so they're overcoming clearly their own doubts that they had.

Starting point is 00:04:37 But also, too, I feel like the trust that's been growing defensively, it's a byproduct of the increased success. But I think it's also a byproduct of being convinced that they can do this. Like, you know, I've talked a lot about over the years in covering the Lakers. Like, you need tangible evidence of being. able to do stuff. And now they have tangible evidence of it. And because they have the tangible evidence, they are now more incentivized to actually put in the work and the focus and the physical sacrifice that comes with defense that before they didn't actually have because in part, I didn't

Starting point is 00:05:14 think they were, I think they did not think they were capable of it. Well, I think there's a lot in there I agree with a lot. And one of it, one of the thing, AD talked about this after the game on Saturday. Like there's this, you know, in, in, you know, tech world they call it, you know, a flywheel, uh, effective. Like, you know, yeah, you said that over the weekend. I have no idea what the F you're talking about. What's a fly. Basically, it six, it's, it's progress creates more progress. You You build efficiencies, which create more efficiencies. You know, great, but Amazon, they're really into flywheels. And so, but like that's the effect he's talking about.

Starting point is 00:06:02 You see it on the court. It feels good. You get good success on the court. You win some games. You feel good. You go watch it on the tape. The tape reinforces what you're feeling. And then you get the reinforcement from the staff from the room.

Starting point is 00:06:16 Like, you know, yes, great job. See it. You see it done in action. We actually do go back and review. our work like shows and stuff like that there are times when you're going back and you're doing like you know your quality control and your spot checks and a show felt like that felt like a great show you go back and you you watch it you listen to it you're like that was not as good as I thought there are other times when it feels worse while you're doing it and then you step away you watch it

Starting point is 00:06:47 you know, the next day, two days later, three days later, whenever it is that you review it, you're like, you know what, that really wasn't bad at all. They had a lot of good stuff in it. And so it's not always true that what you're feeling in the moment is actually reflective, the quality of what it is you're doing. And so what AD is talking about is like real reinforcement where it feels good. And then you go back and you do the work and you review it. And oh, it is good.

Starting point is 00:07:17 And now you can start to build on those things. And the good news is they do not need to. They've been the best defense in the NBA over the last five games. They don't need to be the best defense in the NBA. They just need to be good. They need to be comp. No team ever wins a title if they're 24th in defense. It just doesn't happen.

Starting point is 00:07:40 But you can win it at. Or 24th in anything. Anything. Except maybe like turnovers. Maybe one specific category, but if you are 24th overall in offense and or 24th overall in defense, you are most certainly not winning a championship. But can you do it at, can you get to a Western kind? I don't want to even start talking about the Lakers winning.

Starting point is 00:08:02 Let's walk before you run. Can the Lakers advance, you know, a round or two in the playoffs if they're the from here on out, the 11th best team in the West? Or in the, not the West, in the, in the, in the NBA?

Starting point is 00:08:22 I can answer that question. Not the West. Got to be the NBA. Whole thing. The whole kit and caboodle, as they say. Now you talk about flywheels. I have no idea what a kitten caboodle is,

Starting point is 00:08:34 but you know, here we are. They, they can advance, if the offense improves, and we're going to talk about that, you know, before the end of the end of,

Starting point is 00:08:43 end of the show. If the offense improves back to more of what it looked like at the beginning of the season, and they become a upper third defense, you know, top half, the very top of the middle third, something like that, then they got a shot. And I think what you're seeing, Andy, is exactly right, of them going like, okay, we can do this. and it's hard to sustain it over the course of the next 60 games. But they got a chance.

Starting point is 00:09:19 We'll talk about this next. They've got a chance in front of them to really reinforce some of the good stuff that they've been doing over the last five games in an environment that could actually make it last even longer. And I'll explain why next. After I also tell people really quickly, according to a search, Kit and Caboodle originates from the idea of kit meaning, according to just the first thing that came up in a search,

Starting point is 00:09:47 AI overview. The phrase kit and caboodle originates from the idea of a kit, meaning a collection of items, that makes sense. And Caboodle, which is thought to be derived from the Dutch word bodel or buddle, meaning property or estate, essentially referring to the whole lot or everything included.

Starting point is 00:10:04 Now on to our sponsors. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you. by Skylight frames. Do you struggle to find a perfect gift during the holidays? Maybe gift giving isn't your love language. Are you buying for someone that has everything and just seems unpleasable? You know who that person is. You don't need to say it. We're all, we're all thinking of at least one person. We got the perfect gift for you. Skyline frame. Shoot, did I say that out loud? No, that's not true. You wouldn't get me anything. Skylight frame is a touchscreen digital photo frame. Yeah. Let me read. Skylight frame is the touchscreen digital photo frame for your,

Starting point is 00:10:40 that your whole family love, upload thousands of photos with your phone, watch them appear in seconds. It's easy to use. Setup is less than 60 seconds. Invite friends and family to easily share photos via the free Skylight mobile app or email. No account or subscription is required. It's the fastest, easiest way to keep loved ones in the, they offer free 120-day returns.

Starting point is 00:11:00 It's a top-rated brand recommended by the Today Show, Forbes, New York Magazine, and more. And now is a special limited time offer for our listeners. you can get $20 off your purchase of a Skylight Frame when you go to skylightframe.com slash NBA. That's S-K-Y-L-I-G-H-T-F-R-A-M-E dot com slash NBA. Okay, so one of the things, Andy, and just a quick reminder, subscribe to the newsletter.

Starting point is 00:11:32 If you're watching on YouTube, it is in the bottom right-hand corner, the free daily newsletter, go to LockdownDaily.com, and you subscribe, click on Lockdown-Likers, have the show. delivered to you every day, along with extra analysis, both from us and also from around the network. So it's a great way just to keep up every day with the NBA in your inbox. And by the way, when you subscribe, because we ask you to, it kind of helps us out.

Starting point is 00:11:58 So please do that. A lot of what the Lakers have done recently has been on the road. Like they have made this progress. You know, they just took two games from Sacramento on the road. they've been playing this defense on the road. They have an opportunity in front of them, not even to get before we get too deep into like all the way through the end of January, just in the next six games.

Starting point is 00:12:22 This is what the Lakers have. The Pistons tonight. The slumping is a mild word for what the warriors are going through. And seemingly a lot of infighting going on. Yeah. It is not like, you know, locked on warriors is, is, is probably, has a similar vibe to what the Lockdown Lakers podcast had after the Miami game. Well, it's never good when your coach in a post game presser says everyone needs to just

Starting point is 00:12:50 knock it off and pass the ball to Steph. Stop being a bunch of idiots. Like, that's never a good sign. Things are going well. It's not, no, it's not. Not healthy. So that's on Christmas. That is a road game, but against the team that is. not performing particularly well. Then you have the Kings at home, and then you have the calves at home, and the Blazers at home, and the Hawks at home.

Starting point is 00:13:21 So over the next six games, you play one time on the road. That one game is against a team that is slumping hard. Other than that, you only have one game against a team that would be considered anything but mid, and that would be the Cleveland game. So in five of your next six games, five of them are at home, the sixth is against a slumping team. It is not crazy to say the Lakers should win four of these games. It's not crazy to say it's very possible that they could win five. If you win four, the Lakers are 20 and 14 at that point, six games over 500.

Starting point is 00:14:04 with a reasonably favorable rest of January coming up, and I don't even get that far. That will bump them up. They finish Saturday or the weekend sixth in the conference. You win four of your next six. You're at the very least, still probably six. You may be bumped up maybe to fifth, maybe to fourth, and suddenly you find yourself with a little bit of breathing room

Starting point is 00:14:31 and back to feeling like you are one of the better teams in the conference. It is a very winnable stretch of games after, you know, that horrible stretch that they had earlier when they play like two weeks' worth of games in nine days. The best and the worst thing about the Western Conference at the same time is that things can change in a hurry when it comes to the standings. And that cuts both ways. you go on a very normal two-game losing streak, and all of a sudden you can find yourself from...

Starting point is 00:15:06 It's not even a streak. That's just long two games in a row. You lose two games in a row, you can go from being the five-seed to the 11-seed. Flipside is you win two games in a row. You can go from being the 11-seat to like the four-seat. Like, it's pretty nuts what's going on right now. Like the Lakers are only two games behind the Mavericks for the four-seat. And that's...

Starting point is 00:15:30 With all of the turmoil that has been well documented on this show leading up to the last five games where all of a sudden they look like the bad boy pistons, like things. Phil Jackson used to say things can turn on a trifle. This is the trifle conference right now. And if you take care of the opportunities in front of you, A, you can't put yourself in a good place. but B, you safeguard against the inevitable losses that are coming in just over the course of 82 games. You're going to lose two quality opponents. This West is really difficult. So it is extremely important to not have, say, a second night where the Pistons, for whatever reasons, sneak up on you.

Starting point is 00:16:18 Yeah, and look, the Pistons are not terrible. The Pistons are not a garbage team. They are better than that this year. but they're I mean they're they're not in there are four games under 500 and they're a sub 500 road team and you just lost to them so like they shouldn't sneak up on you like had they beaten Detroit the first time you might be able to say stuff happens you know trap game whatever it might be no you've lost to them already so like the idea that you would lose twice I'm not they're not the hornets you know are the bobcats I mean like you know from back in the day we're Lakers simply could not beat that team. And what I really like about this stretch is that, you know, when you get home, it's just easier to keep refining things that you are succeeding at. You have a, they can sneak a practice or two in what they, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:19 that you just can't do on a road trip. It's just not really feasible. It's easier to do shoot-arounds at home at the, very least. You're in your own, like, and you're, you tend to play, you know, Gabe Vincent, who has played, um, you know, quite well over the last, you know, a few games, role players like him, Dalton Connect, whose splits are intensely, uh, bad when you, when you look home and road. He ought to be a better player at home, DeAngelo Russell. I go down the road, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, so you have an

Starting point is 00:17:53 opportunity to play mid-ish teams on your own floor where you tend to play better and ought to be able to kind of continue this trend of good defense and actually maybe repair some of the offensive stuff because what I want to see from the Lakers, Andy, is some level of consistent identity. And that identity can be a team that's primarily offensively, that's okay as long as they meet the bar defensively. Like they need to find some level of like, okay, this is what we're going to be night tonight.

Starting point is 00:18:35 Because you can't have these swings where you go from one of the best offensive teams in a tire fire defensively to a tire fire at everything, to still bad at offense, but now suddenly, like you say, you're the bad boy pistons defensively. And over their last five games are like three points better in terms of defensive efficiency than the second best team in this stretch.

Starting point is 00:19:01 And it's not like the Lakers have beaten lousy offensive teams over their last five. They've beaten good, like they're playing good defense against really good offensive teams. So can you find me a middle ground? Can you play 10 games in a row? Can you do a through a home heavy January, Andy? can you give me eighth best offense for 13th best defense

Starting point is 00:19:29 like how about that like that seems to be a little bit less than everything else coming up next I will offer a hint at least one thing the Lakers can do to help with the offense in ways that they have complete control over

Starting point is 00:19:47 and also because it's been my lot in life this season. to be on Dalton Connect home and road splits watch, I'm going to reveal where they are right now because wow. That's coming up next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Built. If you're a renter, it can sometimes feel like you're just stuck in this doom loop of rent payments and just watching your money vanishing to thin air.

Starting point is 00:20:14 And it's time to turn the rent game around and start earning serious rewards. That's where Built rewards comes in. Build is breaking ground as a neighborhood rewards program that hooks you up with points on your rent. Every month you pay your rent and just watch the built points roll in. You can use those points to jet off on a dream vacation. You can put points towards a flight or a hotel stay with 500 plus airlines, 700,000 plus hotels and properties. Built has been consistently ranked the highest value point currency by the points guy and bank rate. Earned points by paying rent right now when you go to join Bill. com slash locked on MBA.

Starting point is 00:20:51 That's join built, J-O-I-N-B-T dot com slash locked-on MBA. Make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Go to joinbilt.com slash lockdown MBA. Start earning points with your rent payments today. Lockdown Lakers also brought to you by Fandul. The NFL playoffs are almost here. Very excited that the Rams appear that they will be part of it.

Starting point is 00:21:16 But that is neither here nor there right now because it's not too late to get in on the regular season action with Fandul, America's number one sports book. Because right now, Andy, new customers can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus bets. That's a boost over what we've been reading before. If your first $5 bet wins, Fanduel has so many ways for you to pick up the W. I'd love betting on which players will score a touchdown. Fandual has so many ways for you to pick up a W. You can figure out whatever combinations you like to do, whether it's, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:48 point spreads or over unders or, you know, just straight betting line. However you like to do it, guys are going to score touchdowns, prop bets, you know, whatever you're, whatever you find enjoyable in terms of putting a little action on a game, it is thrilling to do for you. Not only you can bet on who wins the game, but again, prop bets, who's going to score touchdown, how many teams, how many points each team will score, basically whatever you can think of. So just visit fendual.com to join today.

Starting point is 00:22:15 That's fendual.com for your chance for $250 in both. bonus bets make every moment more a fan duel, an official sports book sponsor of the NFL. Okay, so the latest look at Dalton Connect's home and road splits from behind the arc. We've mentioned throughout the season they've been pretty dramatic, but wow. Heading into tonight's game at home, so perhaps a good sign versus the Pistons, Dalton Connect 46%, 46.2 from behind the arc on little under five and a half threes per game. on the road, a little bit less than four and a half threes per game, 28.6. That is nearly a 20% swing.

Starting point is 00:23:03 That's crazy. Like that is stark. One of them, he looks like a splash brother. The other one, he looks like somebody who has no business taking threes at all. He looks like a Kamenetsky brother. Yes. And well played. Yes, he does.

Starting point is 00:23:21 I mean, damn. Damn. Look, and, you know, he played five minutes in Saturday's game. And it wasn't like a five minutes.

Starting point is 00:23:32 We're like, come on, Darwin. Come on, JJ. You know, get them, get back out of what you're doing.

Starting point is 00:23:37 It's totally unfair to blame that on Darwin. No, it's not. But it's just a force of habit of like, you know, why aren't you playing X player, Darwin? Like,

Starting point is 00:23:46 nope, there was no point in that game where I was like, why isn't Connect playing? Because what they're doing, it's like, here's the thing. You know, we, or at least here's a thing. We get a lot of people, you know, talking about different players, the Lakers could have drafted, not this year, but, you know, the year before the JHS draft. And, you know, you look at different guys.

Starting point is 00:24:09 You know, Cam Whitmore, for example, slid in a big way all the way down to Houston as a guy was going to be considered a high lottery pick for a lot of team. And, you know, showing a lot of potential. be a very good player. Houston is quite good this year. Cam Whitmore is barely playing. And he's kind of better with the G league than the big club. And so, and I say that again, not to say that Cam Whitmore sucks or is a bust or whatever, but to point out that on good teams, it is hard for young players to break in because the acceptance and the tolerance for mistakes is very low.

Starting point is 00:24:48 And so the Lakers think of themselves, if nothing else, as one of those teams. And they don't have a lot of space. They really don't have a lot of space to accommodate, connect if he's not going to be doing the stuff that he's really good at well. If he's not going to be shooting, if he's not going to be putting up a lot of points and being a threat offensively,

Starting point is 00:25:11 then his defense becomes a problem. And all that stuff. So if you're a team that right now that's winning entirely based on defense, it's going to be harder to get Connect on the floor. That said, they are a better team if Connect is part of what they're doing offensively, part of what they're doing in their rotation. So they've got to figure that out. They've got to find a way to get him going again.

Starting point is 00:25:39 And, you know, I just, I look at what they have in front of them as, you know, know, if it's sort of like a lot, there are a lot of ifs, like if they can get hit, if they can play something like this defense going forward and get the offense going, you know, something like what it was at the beginning of the season. That's, that's a lot of connect, but like it's Gabe Vincent has making the need for them to rely on connect lower, you know, as part of the reason they needed Connect so badly early was because Vincent was terrible. If Vincent's not terrible,

Starting point is 00:26:19 it mitigates some of the need for Connect to be really good. And, you know, this is a good problem for Reddick to have is where suddenly you have more players in your rotation that you want to be able to play than spots to play them. Max Christie, you know, the impact that he's had on the defense and the trickle-down effect there

Starting point is 00:26:41 in terms of what that's done has been. great and LeBron and the extra 15%. They even talked about this on spectrum, you know, the home network of the Lakers like LeBron being 15, 20% more engaged defensively. It's the home network talking about basically because implicit. Honestly, 15 to 20% feels like you're rounding down a lot. I may be, but I, but whatever.

Starting point is 00:27:02 Them, not you. Right. I said the other night before I heard them, even before hearing that, like he looks like you're, you're getting 10, 15, 20% more out of him on that. on that side. And that's kind of what you need. And it doesn't, you know, I just mean I think it's more than 10 to 20%.

Starting point is 00:27:19 Maybe. I think you're probably right. 60% more. Maybe. But whatever the number is, the point is like they're implicit in that statement, Andy, is like, you know, you're saying like, you kind of wasn't so engaged before. And this is the home network of the Lakers acknowledging this. All of these things.

Starting point is 00:27:38 But they bring us on because we can say it. Right. That's funny. No, it is. I mean, I'd like to think they think we do good work and we're entertaining and all that stuff. A lot of jokes. I, you know, the, they're flying. But every now and then we're brought in because we can speak a little more.

Starting point is 00:27:56 Somebody's got to say that thing that needs to be said. There's no question. We say it gently in a way that won't offend anybody, but you say it. And then they don't invite us back for a month. No, they do. Yeah, they have us back. They are really, have always been quite nice to us over there. So now all of a sudden you have Cam Reddish who, good God, people,

Starting point is 00:28:20 like listen to at the very least you're going to continue to rip on me for my Cam Reddish hatred, at least listen to what I'm saying. What they've got Cam doing now is a perfect role for him, where it does not matter if he doesn't score, where he can be fully engaged on defense and focus. on nothing but defense and you know clean up around the rim finish on the break whatever it might be but he didn't have to he doesn't have to take it you know take wide open threes if you're there but it doesn't have to like and they can deploy him strategically at times when they are most likely

Starting point is 00:28:58 to get a positive outcome for the team for reddish where it works for everyone he's now slotted in a great spot. So now all of a sudden you have competition and Dalton Connect is getting squeezed. That sucks for Connect. It's a thing that Lakers have to figure out because the development of Connect is really important. But it's a really good problem for Reddick to have and it's an indication that the hole is functioning better than it was earlier in the year. And in the meantime, I mentioned earlier in the show that I had. I had a suggestion that is completely within the Lakers control that could at least add

Starting point is 00:29:46 three, five, maybe six extra points per game. Oh? You know, juice the offense a little bit. We've talked about the offensive struggles of late. Make your fourth quarter free throws. And I emphasize fourth quarter free throws because the fourth quarter has become a problem for this team. Like Anthony Davis gets a lot of this.

Starting point is 00:30:09 focus, most notably, Saturday night against the Kings. He missed two critical free throws. Thankfully, Rui Hachamura got, you know, the tip out of the 24, 25 season so far. Austin Reeves ended up going to the line. He sank both of his and that ice the game for the Lakers. And we've seen there's been a few occasions where Anthony Davis has had problems in the fourth quarter with free throws. And it is a thing. Like he is shooting about 6% lower in the fourth quarter than he is in the regular season. He's about 78% on the season, 71% in the fourth. He's a career 79% shooter.

Starting point is 00:30:48 So clearly, that is a thing. But the bigger problem for the Lakers is he's not the only guy. The Lakers as a team shoots 78% at the line. That's pretty good. They go down to 72% in the fourth quarter. LeBron this season drops from 6%. 75 on the whole, 67% in the fourth quarter. Austin Reeves drops from 79% on the whole to 73%.

Starting point is 00:31:20 The fourth quarter, Rui Hachamura, albeit pretty small volume, goes from 80% on the season to 75% in the fourth quarter. Like DeAngelo Russell is basically the only scorer whose free throw percentage goes up, but he's so, he's such a low volume. Clutch dealer. Yeah. Well, yeah, he goes from like 84% on the season to 90% in the fourth quarter, but he is not somebody who gets to the line much period. No, it starts with LeBron and AD. Those are your...

Starting point is 00:31:53 And Reeves, and Reeves. It starts with those three. LeBron, AD, and Reeves are the three guys who get to the line with frequency that... And all three of them drop like six to eight percent in the fourth quarter. That's not... It's not acceptable, but also, like I said, it is in their control. Like, free throws are the most controllable ways a player has to score points. And all three of them are good enough to do.

Starting point is 00:32:21 It's not like, it's not like the, you know, the shack I make them when they count thing, which sometimes it did, but sometimes he missed an awful lot that counted too. Can I be, can I? I know what you're going to say. They all count. Sure. But I'm just saying, even if you stipulate that the only ones that count are the fourth quarter ones, he missed an awful lot of those too. You know, there's a really, the Rui Hachamara tip out thing was great.

Starting point is 00:32:55 It was one of the, it's a galvanizing moment. You wouldn't talk about, we talked about in the last segment, like stuff that looks awesome on film and gets people really excited about what you're doing. putting in the extra efforts and, you know, your first effort, second effort, third effort, doing things, I said this the other night, like, I think part of the reason that play was so effective, it's a great, it's a regular season hustle play. In the playoffs, maybe that doesn't work because, you know, Alex Len, Sabonis, like, you're just a little more heightened about stuff like that, but you win games in regular seasons, you win games in the regular season based on plays like that where you put in just a little bit more effort at a time when the other team is

Starting point is 00:33:37 not expecting it. And they're just not expecting the hard crash on a missed free throw in that situation. And so that is going to look awesome on the tape. It's going to get everyone excited and it would have been a thousand times better if it was never needed because he made both of those free throws and they were up by four. Like that moment should not have happened. And you risk, you know, Franz Wagner hitting a 38 footer or whatever that was to lose a game when you don't make your free throws. And to have lost that game on Saturday after such a nice defensive effort would have been depressing. Yeah. So again, that's, you know, there are other things we can break down.

Starting point is 00:34:25 I'm sure we will, like looking at the sample sizes, it gets bigger if the offense doesn't start turning around. like what's going on. But that's one way that they can fix on their own. Just do better in the fourth quarter. Yeah, absolutely. Again, sign up for the newsletter, locked on daily.com. Go to Locked on Lakers.

Starting point is 00:34:46 Clicked on that. And then all of this is delivered to you every day, along with extra analysis. It again, it's helpful to us. So if you wouldn't mind. Yeah, we'll be back after the Pistons game. You can check out the postcast of Day of Palais. and of course our show, our regular show to follow Block and Liquors on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:35:06 We'll go hang out over 26,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone after the game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Why the Suddenly Hot Lakers Have a Chance to Rise in the Western Conference

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