Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Why Thursday's Blowout Win Over Washington Matters More Than You Think

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Friday, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky. Anthony Davis, who needs Anthony Davis? Not the Lakers in Washington, 134.96. The final score, a great game for LLA. in multiple ways. And we'll tell you about all of them next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Lockdown Lakers. First, listen to every day. Monday through Friday, sometimes on weekends, no matter how or where you get your podcast, this one's always going to be free and never, ever locked behind some sort of paywall and locked on Lakers on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:00:47 It's wherever 27,000 subscribers are very excited at what Thursday night did for the Lakers and they're constantly lagging point differential as the Lakers just blow through the... I can't... God-awful doesn't describe what the Wizards are, but they're bad. I want to emphasize from the jump that the Lakers did a lot of things legitimately well in this game,

Starting point is 00:01:15 especially we'll get into it approach, and they should be commended for it. That being said, holy hell, these wizards are awful. Like how the F did they win six games awful? I was thinking about this. the greatest moment of Kyle Kuzma's career as a wizard is the pink sweater photo. Like honestly, that's the high point of his time in D.C. And it brings me, as somebody who really liked Kuzma when we covered him and thought he was an important part of that title team, it brings me no pleasure to say this.

Starting point is 00:01:55 I'm not looking to pile on him. But my God, did he make a mistake when he said, don't trade me to Dallas? Nope. Should have gotten traded to Dallas. I mean, bro. Go ahead and get traded, man. Now it's harder to move the guy. He's having a terrible year.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Yes, he is. And so, look, I will even, you know, you talk about approach and things like that. I'm probably going to get myself into trouble in this episode for praising the Lakers as much as I'm going to over the course of this episode. but I actually do feel like, and I wrote about this for the newsletter, of course, Lockdown-Lakers newsletter, you go to LockdownDaily.com and subscribe to it there. I actually think this was an important win in a lot of ways. Again, Washington's awful, so I'm not talking about like throwing a parade or anything. But Lakers playing without Anthony Davis that we knew what was going to happen,

Starting point is 00:02:53 everybody could prepare for it. It was the first game without AD of a stretch of some, amount of games that maybe takes into the all-star break maybe not the lakers certainly projecting optimism about the long-term impact of this injury so to speak on on ad they don't think it's going to be a long-term deal but also no dorian finney smith he was out with a shoulder contusion and gave vincent still out as well so the lakers were down you know one massive part of the of the ross in two significant pieces in the rotation. And given how they played Andy against Philadelphia and Charlotte,

Starting point is 00:03:38 I don't think it was a given that they were going to come out and put on this kind of performance. They should, but whether or not it was a given, I'm not buying that for a second. I think if we've made one thing clear this season, professionalism in that way is not a given with this team at all. You know, we've talked about how I think they all intellectually understand that in order for this group to go as far as they want to save some type of unexpectedly big move at the deadline, they have to be an execution based team. They have to be an effort based team. They have to be an energy based team, focus based team.

Starting point is 00:04:23 They all understand this. Like, hell, they've all talked about it openly. whether they've actually embraced it is at best an open question, which means a game like tonight, even when you look at it and say, guys, no, seriously, you have to win this game. It's not something you could take for granted that they would come into it with the right approach. And I thought, just looking at the half-time, some of the halftime numbers, 78 to 45 they were up, which obviously is a 33 points is a massive, massive lead.

Starting point is 00:05:02 But they only had four turnovers in the first half. And then they had four in the third quarter, but like one of them was a Trey Jameson offensive foul. Two of them were Jackson Hayes passes, which respectfully, I don't think Jackson Hayes is an awful passer for his position, but you don't look for Jackson Hayes to be somebody running your offense. but like they took care of the ball. Their splits at the half were 60% from the field, 53% from deep, 100% at the line.

Starting point is 00:05:35 They out rebounded Washington 30 to 13. Other than Jordan Poole, no Wizard had double figures, 14 points, but 11 shots. And Jake Milton, who we're going to talk about, he had a terrific game. He had nine points in the half. He almost outscored the Wizard's bench himself. self, like top to bottom, there was a seriousness from this team, from the jump that I hope

Starting point is 00:06:03 they can recognize you got to do this every game. Yeah. And I mean, this is how they're going to have to do it with AD out. And obviously, look, the next four games gets to do with a. Yeah. Well, right. But, I mean, like, this stretch coming up especially, like, you know, this is how it's going to have to be until Davis is back in the lineup. You have no safety security blanket there.

Starting point is 00:06:27 And, you know, it's going to be harder in New York on Saturday. It's going to be harder against the clippers. It's going to be harder against the Warriors. It's going to be harder against the Pacers. It's going to be harder against any team that isn't the Wizards. It is. And that'll get it slightly easier against Utah. But even then, that's going to be harder than what Utah is not this bad.

Starting point is 00:06:48 But even though what I really liked about this game, and you know, you look at approach, you look at focus, you look at all that stuff, is they never had a moment in this game where they said, okay, we got this, even though it was abundantly clear that they, in fact, had got this. Like there was a zero, like Washington was game to be like for like, five minutes, six minutes. And as soon as there was a little bit of a push and a gap, they're like, yeah, we're done.

Starting point is 00:07:28 And you could just sort of tell. Like, there wasn't any real fight there or discipline or anything. I don't blame them. This is, I mean, I blame them in the sense that this is your job. You're getting paid millions of dollars. You're supposed to be putting up a fight. I'm just saying I don't blame them if they can't come up with. the motivation. This is their second 16-game losing streak at the season.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Second. Like, they came into this game having lost 15 straight, and that wasn't their longest losing streak of the season. Atlanta has lost to this team twice. Shame on them. Shame on you, Atlanta Hawks. They've only played 47 games to have two different 16-game losing streaks. Like, that is in its own right actually pretty damn impressive. They started two and two. Wow. You imagine, like, they were like, maybe we got there.

Starting point is 00:08:31 We're going to shock the world this year. No. I'm Alex. Sorry to manage it now. Yeah. I think I called him Olivier on TV. That's his brother. But anyway, that's okay.

Starting point is 00:08:44 But like, this team has done that thing. where they just assume, okay, the game's over, the other team's not going to keep trying and they're bad and it's ours. And that's how you run a lead up to 40 or whatever it was. And I think this to me is one of those times. We talked about it heading into the game.

Starting point is 00:09:10 Sometimes losing your best player is the thing that will drive your focus. because you know if you don't do it right, you're going to get embarrassed. And while the Lakers probably could have played a bad game and still won, a bad game where you beat the Wizards by like six and LeBron's playing deep into the fourth quarter as opposed to 26 minutes, which is great. That leaves a really bad taste, even if you end up winning it.

Starting point is 00:09:46 And so the fact that they didn't have to do any of that is great. And there were some positive individual performances that are going to be potentially significant for these games going forward where AD is not available. So let's get into some of those next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by TurboTax. This is a message from sponsor, Intuit TurboTax. Taxes waiting and wondering and worrying if you were going to get any money back. and then waiting, wondering, and worrying some more. Now taxes is matching with a turbotax expert who can do your taxes as soon as today.

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Starting point is 00:10:56 only available with TurboTax live, full service, real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. See guaranteed details at turbotax.com slash guarantees. You made the point, Andy, coming into this game, that one of the things the Lakers are going to need to do is figure out how to activate Rui Hachamora. The Lakers need to find another 30 points a game, give or take 25 to 30 at night.

Starting point is 00:11:34 Need to be replaced with Anthony Davis out of the lineup. Obviously LeBron is going to do some of that, and he certainly was well on his way. Having a lot of fun, I thought, kind of trolling the Wizards. like he was doing stuff that was a little bit like watching like an NBA version of the Globetrotters playing the generals where he's doing little footwork tricks and this and that whatever. He's like, I'm going to slice and dice you guys up. I'm not really going to work that hard doing it. I think he enjoyed it.

Starting point is 00:12:06 I think, and I don't blame him. It's fun to do that sort of thing. But you expect LeBron to step up and, you know, produce from a point standpoint. You expect Austin Reeves to. step up and do that. And again, Reeves didn't have to do a lot of heavy lifting, but his 17 points could have been higher, I think. But it's Max Christie, got it from Sheikh Milton, Jared Vanderbilt, you know, was going to need to pop in a bucket or two here and there. But the big one is Rui Hachamura. And he got the assignment, I would say, on Thursday,

Starting point is 00:12:45 and executed very well. Twenty-two points. on 9 of 12 from the field, four of five from behind the arc. This was only in 26 minutes. So had this been a normal game where the opponent is even sort of threatening, Rui likely plays mid-30s minutes, gets

Starting point is 00:13:06 15 shots, something like that, and I keep beating this drum. If you want a better version of Rui, he has to get more shots. because that is his single best strength. And the more you look for Rui to either be, you know, his focus beyond the glass or focus defensively or whatever you consider the proverbial little things, you're not going to be happy with that version of Rui.

Starting point is 00:13:35 And to be fair, while Rui, we've harped on this, should be a better rebounder for his size and physicality and athleticism. and like he, nothing else has the tools to be a better defender, and he should always be trying to be better at it. You always look to try to put players in a position to play to their strengths. This is the dude's strengths. Like, you know, these periods earlier in the month where he was averaging like seven shots a game, I said if that's what you're going to do with Rui, then really trade him.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Not because I think the Lakers should trade him or would be better off trading him. I'm just saying, go trade him for. somebody else that you are going to play to player X's strengths. This is a waste of everybody's time. There is a difference between you might need to trade Rui, and they might. If you're going to make any deal for anybody who makes a decent amount of money, Rui is almost certainly going to have to be it.

Starting point is 00:14:37 But that's different than you should because you're not getting the value out of the player that you have. So those two things are different. And what you want is a situation where it feels like, okay, we got to trade Rui because we know we can improve. Ouch, like it kind of hurts. Like you don't want it to feel like it's an easy no-brainer kind of deal because it's not somebody that you're really using anyway. That's not, that means you weren't maximizing the assets when you had them. The dude this season's shooting about 50% from the field and 40 plus from behind the arc. Like, again, whatever dissatisfaction you have with Rui,

Starting point is 00:15:21 it's not because he isn't, you know, he isn't cashing in on the thing that he's expected to do. He is. He's not getting enough of an opportunity to do it. So this doesn't require great basketball insights on my part. This is just obvious. And I'm glad that they looked for him a little bit more. And obviously he was up for the assignment.

Starting point is 00:15:45 like you said and probably felt pretty good to go against his old team that he was very, very happy to get traded from. I, it was funny, Scott Brooks popped into Rui's press conference when, you know, podium game for Rui and was like, you know, you should have played like that when I had you here, meaning when Scott Brooks was the coach in Washington. Good line from Scotty Brooks. this I you look around and you know I don't know again I don't know if the Lakers are going to be able to replicate this against a very good Knicks team

Starting point is 00:16:24 the debt against a team that's true and I am I am concerned about the potential results against the clippers sure that is a team is playing very well well. And when Kauai is healthy, like, again, depth that they have there, the pieces seem to fit. They're very well coach. Okay. So results may be hard to come by over the next few games, but if you're going to win, it's going to be with the approach that they had on Thursday. The trick, obviously, is maintaining all of those qualities while meeting significantly more resistance. Because the urge is going to be to try to do more,

Starting point is 00:17:21 to, you know, you can't quite stick with the principles. Like the pressure, literally, the pressure on you from the opposing defense to try to execute the stuff you're saying, it makes it harder. Like, it's going to be harder for the coaching staff to drop the stuff that could work. But at least they got the blueprint. And that to me is why I feel like this win is important, even though it came against like a bunch of dudes that look like they were pulled out of the crowd. I will say this. If you're a fan of communication on the court, like you hear coaches talking about how important communication is and what that.

Starting point is 00:18:02 If you ever wanted to know what that sounds like in an NBA game, watch the replay of this one if you happen to miss it because the arena was so dead. You could hear everything these guys were saying on the court. You know, pick up a ball, pick up a blow, you know, drop, drop, you know, all of it. You can hear everything. And the Lakers were, in fact, communicating well. Again, like, I want to make it clear just in case anybody misinterpreted this, beating this team is not the accomplishment.

Starting point is 00:18:31 Like, we would have been, frankly, chastising the Lakers if they had won this game by seven. Like, it would have been upsetting. But how the Lakers approached this game, because again, it's not a given that they would do this. That's the part of it, you know, like JJ afterwards, we can get him to do this a little bit after the break and also want to get into Shake Milton's night because he was very, very good. J.J. talked about the team playing with an edge, which he challenged them to do heading into it. And there were a few things that I saw after, you know, when I heard JJ say that going back through some of my notes that reminded me of edge from the Lakers. So getting that coming up next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul Super Bowl.

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Starting point is 00:20:02 icing on the cake. Download the app or head to fandle.com to get started. Bet just $5. and if you win, $200 in bonus bets. Fandle.com, bet with Fandle official partner of Super Bowl 59. I heard JJ mention that challenge to play with more edge. I thought about some of the things that happened in this game. And you had Austin Reeves getting a technical when he felt that he had driven and should have earned a foul and he didn't get one, started harping at the ref, you know, with that doing it in a way, by the way, that didn't mean staying back from a play and like allowing your teammates to go four on five or anything like that. But he let it be known. I think this is BS. Dalton Connect, getting ejected, arguing a non-call, but again,

Starting point is 00:20:53 in a way that didn't mess up anything for the team. Yeah, they're out. Yeah, it was also like a minute and a half left who cares? I honestly, I missed it. It took me a second to realize what happened. I went back. I went back and watched for it again and figured out what happened. Forty-eight-38 rebounding edge without Anthony Davis, and Wizards do have Jonas Valchunis, who as much as I'm not wild about adding him, he is good on the boards. LeBron, five trips to the line, only taking four threes. Like this was a game where LeBron was driving a lot. six blocks, three from Jackson Hayes, two from Trey Jemison, like offering that interior presence. And you combine that with, again, the focus that we talked about and that professionalism.

Starting point is 00:21:42 And it felt like, again, I'm acknowledging who the Lakers were playing against. And I don't want to hype this win bigger than it was in terms of achievement. But it felt like a game where the Lakers did want to make the Wizards feel them. And that's what JJ challenged them to do. And well, I sometimes, and sometimes you need a game like this to sort of set yourself right again. And whether it carries through in the score, I do not think the Lakers are going to beat the Knicks by, you know, what is that, 38? 38. Don't see that happening.

Starting point is 00:22:29 Be great if they did. You were talking about a fun little Saturday. But they needed a reset. The Lakers needed to get back to a quality of play before they got into this rough stretch of games rather than trying to discover it during. And that's what they got on Thursday. It was not necessarily the hardest assignment, but they executed and aced that assignment in the best possible terms.

Starting point is 00:23:07 I mentioned the optimism around, sorry, brain cramp there, the optimism that Anthony Davis might be available even maybe before the All-Star Breakthrough, Lakers certainly not sending a lot of alarms. out that they think this is a long-term problem. There was some chatter and some news today from Mark Stein on Thursday and his newsletter, everybody should be subscribing to Mark Stein substack. That is well worth a few bucks of your budget per month. That the pacer's, Andy, when it comes to other centers, the Lakers might add, may not be super interested in trading Miles Turner. Not surprised.

Starting point is 00:23:56 We've been saying this. I mean, I think Miles Turner is more available than Walker Kessler, because if you had to say which team would it make more sense on any level to trade their guy, Utah with Walker Kessler, Indiana with Miles Turner, it makes more sense compared to Utah. But unless the Pacers just don't want to pay Miles Turner moving forward and think that they would be better off just, getting something from him now, even though it could worsen their team as they're all a sudden playing well? It doesn't make any sense. He's playing well for them. Indiana's playing well. Never say never. And if the Lakers really put out a very good offer, maybe it changes

Starting point is 00:24:46 Indiana's mind that they're not a team that's known for throwing caution to the win when it comes to the luxury tax and things like that. But they're also not known for tanking. Right. That's the other part of it too. Like if it happens, I will be more than happy to be wrong because, you know, everydayers and long timers will remember I was very, very loudly a proponent of the then trade two firsts for Miles Turner and Buddy Heald scenario that according a lot of reports was a live possibility. I was like, you're never going to do better than this for Russ. do it. So I'd be happy if the Lakers did it.

Starting point is 00:25:30 I just would be surprised if it's a possibility. One of the wrinkles in there is that the Pacers say reportedly that if they do trade Turner, they need to get a starting caliber center in return. And obviously there are not a lot of those guys floating around. And for the Lakers, you have one, but it's Anthony Davis. So that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And so if that is in fact true, the Lakers would have to loop into third team

Starting point is 00:25:58 and the chances of finding something where the mechanics of that work where the Pacers get a Miles Turner caliber starting center back, it just doesn't look good. That said, again, would love to be wrong. And then you go to the Kessler thing. And so with the trade deadline now a week away, I'm not saying that nothing is going to happen,

Starting point is 00:26:27 but it is starting to just like the feeling that the Lakers could pull off a big move, good, bad, whatever, but even just be able to pull it off, something audacious, something bold or risky, or whatever it might be where we're sitting there going, This could go in a hundred different directions, but that's a big swing. I don't even know if the big swing is there for a player that just, you know, could you trade two first for Jeremy Grant tomorrow? Sure. That's not a big swing.

Starting point is 00:27:05 That's just dumb. No, that's swinging blindfolded. It's a terrible idea. Yeah. Like you're doing a pinata party or something like that. Meantime, though, a guy that they did trade for or was part of a trade. They really traded for DFS with Shake Milton, and he had himself a hell of a night.

Starting point is 00:27:23 21 points off the bench, 7 of 8 from the field, 1 of 2 from behind the arc, 6 of 6 at the line. Shake Milton took the most free throws of anyone on this team. He had off the top of my head at least one and one. He might have had two. Four rebounds, four assists, two steals, plus 25.

Starting point is 00:27:44 And, you know, we had talked before, about how shake in January. These were the first baskets shake Milton has made since January 2nd. And, you know, I'm not looking to relitigate the whole brawny first quarter minutes gate thing in Philadelphia. But one of the reasons we said that JJ made this decision was he was in his mind out of options, in part because shake Milton had been struggling a lot. it was really awesome for Shake to have this night.

Starting point is 00:28:22 This was a night where I imagine he knew he could play without looking over his shoulder because of everybody missing. And he made good on an opportunity. I mean, he played really, really well. And it's important. Like, when they made that trade, you and I were both like smart move to pick up Shake Milton in this deal. Is he a world beater?

Starting point is 00:28:45 No. has he been over the course of his career somebody that you could throw in a lineup for three games if you need him and you know kind of get decent performance? Yes, he has been. He is not somebody you can lean on for 80 games. And we both predicted he wouldn't be in the rotation. Right.

Starting point is 00:29:06 He's not a starting caliber player. But he has a, he has shown the capacity to be, come in, give you some bench scoring, give you know, a little bit of ball movement, and all that kind of stuff. He's sort of been like a professional guy in that way, a little bit above replacement, can keep the trains running,

Starting point is 00:29:23 can provide you a little bit of value and whatever. When he was playing as poorly as he was, that was problematic, especially with Vincent having the kind of health problems that he's been having again, they needed, like I think they fully expected, like Gabe Vincent doesn't play well, you know, we can plug shake-in for,

Starting point is 00:29:45 15 minutes a night and it'll give us some, you know, give us good enough minutes that will be okay. And not being able to get that from him was really problematic because the Lakers are short in that skill set. They're short bench scoring, they're short in ball handling, they're short and ball moving, all of those things. And Milton was designed to be there to help a little bit. And we finally saw him have a really good scoring game. And hopefully, like he kind of did with Connect, where a couple decent games and all of a sudden he looks like he's kind of back. Maybe this means Milton is going to be able to be useful going forward.

Starting point is 00:30:22 I mean, he likely, unless Gabe Vincent is closer than the indications we've gotten, he did say he hopes that both he and DFS will be available Saturday. But okay. All right. Well, I miss that part of it. But look, this is not a night that is going to get shake, I think, in the rotation, so to speak. At full strength,

Starting point is 00:30:46 there's nowhere really to put him, which is big picture, a good thing for the Lakers. But if nothing else, maybe this help shake in terms of confidence, comfort level with the team, you know,

Starting point is 00:31:01 he is somebody that we both thought was not going to be in the rotation, but he has also, he's been like a, as you mentioned, like a deep reserve, especially of late. I mean,

Starting point is 00:31:12 early in his career in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, he was playing more. He's since bounced around a lot. He's been on six teams in seven years. Like three or four of them were spent with one team. So he has bounced a lot and his playing time in general has dropped the more time he's been in the NBA. But it was awesome to see, you know, just on a human level for him in a professional level, it was awesome to see him have that night when the opportunity was there. Also, I want to make sure to pass along this stat from the Spectrum Sportsnet broadcast. A great pick from

Starting point is 00:31:47 Billy Mac. After tonight, Max Christie has made at least one three in 26 straight games. The last time he had a game without making a three was December 1st versus

Starting point is 00:32:03 Utah. And that is also just indicative of how once Max Christie got another shot in the rotation, he has only been making it harder and harder and now at this point nonsensical to take him out of it. I mean, he's, he really is now the guy that the Lakers signed to that extension, you know, in a lot of ways, you know, in gambling terms, betting on the come, there's a very, very good

Starting point is 00:32:33 chance that by the time that contract is over, he's going to look really underpaid. Like, as it is now, he's giving them eight mil a season. He's absolutely given them the eight mils. There's no question. No question about that. Other note, the, even this laid into the season, what can a 38 point win do for you? It knocks the Lakers point differential back to minus point five. So back under a point here, Andy.

Starting point is 00:33:02 And hey, Phoenix Suns, you now have the worst point differential among the 10 play-in or playoff teams in the Western Conference. Well, we're coming to get you, Sacramento. Eat it, Kings. Still a point and a half ahead of the Lakers. Sacramento's got a plus two point differential. But man, if the Lakers were in the east, they'd be looking down thumb in their noses at the Orlando Magic, Pistons, hawks, and bulls.

Starting point is 00:33:36 So anyway, locked on Lakers on YouTube is we're going to go hang out with over 27,000 subscribers. We, of course, will be back after the game on Saturday. always a big one nationally televised LeBron in the garden. Even with short-handed, you expect the Lakers to put out a strong effort, if nothing else.

Starting point is 00:33:54 We'll see everyone after that game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Why Thursday's Blowout Win Over Washington Matters More Than You Think

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