Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Without Luka Dončić, the Lakers Fight Hard but Lose to Oklahoma City, 119-110

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers fight hard against Oklahoma City, but lose will tell you why they have every right to be frustrated by a terribly officiated game. That's 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 your first listen to every day Monday through Friday, whether you're getting the podcast on Apple through the iTunes, the podcast. app. Maybe you're a Spotify guy. Maybe you're one of the 37,000 plus subscribers to the Lockdown Lakers' YouTube channel

Starting point is 00:00:43 no matter how or where you get your podcasts. You are part, well, this one at least, you are part of making the Lockdowne podcast network, the number one sports podcast network and this or any other known universe on Brian Kamenetsky with Andy Kamenetski's nearly two decades.

Starting point is 00:00:58 We have covered the Lakers for the Lakers for the LAC times, for ESPN, for the athletic, and man alive, Andy. We've seen some game where officials frustrate players, where teams fight hard, and you know, you and I are not the type of people who like to blame officials

Starting point is 00:01:19 for winning and losing. We're going to blame officials tonight, but what you can call this in the 119-110 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder was a game where the officials made a material difference in the result. And it's worth talking about getting to that. getting to health for the Lakers, no Luca Donchich on Monday. Tell you what might be coming between now and the end of the break

Starting point is 00:01:43 and why JJ Redick didn't like their fourth quarter execution. But man, alive, what a hard fought and ultimately frustrating game this was, Andy. Yeah, just to set the tone off the top, even though I know it will be ignored by several commentators, or several commenters, particularly ones coming over from the Locked on Thunder audience or really the other 29 families. Potentially commentators as well. Well, I mean, I guess I would like to think Rylan Stiles is not going to be trolling our comment section.

Starting point is 00:02:13 But Rylan, if you are there, you are always welcome. You're a friend of the show. And for that matter, Thunder fans and fans of the other 28 fan base is always welcome here as long as you're not being an a-hole in the comments section. You can hang out. You can troll respectfully or at least funnily. As long as you're funny, we will allow a lot. But just to establish this off the top, the single biggest reason in my mind the Lakers lost this game was first half turnovers.

Starting point is 00:02:42 They turned the ball over 10 times in the first half. They gave up 20 points in the process. And both teams scored 52 points in the second half of this game. They were down nine at the half. They lost by 9, 1-19, 110. had the Lakers taken better care of the ball or made better decisions even in shot selection during the first half? Like there was a sequence where, and I don't say this to single out Marcus Smart as the biggest problem in this game. This is just emblematic of what I'm talking about.

Starting point is 00:03:19 Smart got a steal and then in transition pulled up for three with at least like 19 or 20 seconds, left on the clock. He misses Oklahoma City, scores in transition. It is essentially the equivalent of a live ball turnover. It is just unwise shot selection that you cannot afford to do against a team like Oklahoma City that is so good at capitalizing on mistakes. They are great at running out turnovers. But again, shot selection like that is for all intents and purposes a turnover. There are other elements of the game that we're going to get into, and again, including the refs, which if nothing else, were a source of big-time aggravation for the Lakers,

Starting point is 00:04:09 regardless of how much you think they materially affected the game. But to me, that was the single reason the Lakers, A, lost the game, and B, they stopped doing that in the second half. That was the single biggest reason they got back into the game. But that's kind of my point, is that, you know, look, I mean, the Lakers obviously didn't play a, perfect game, but they played pretty well. And especially once they cleaned up things into the, you know, they came out, played a

Starting point is 00:04:38 very good third quarter. Actually built up a lead. I got as much was a 10, eight or 10, I forget. But, you know, they built up a lead in the third quarter. They cleaned up the turnovers. And they played well enough to win. No game, games are almost never decided by the officials. You know, you can always go back and find things that you did.

Starting point is 00:04:58 The Lakers, you know, the officials didn't make, as you talk about, the Lakers turned the ball over 10 times that early. They didn't, you know, most of which were live ball turnovers. They didn't, you know, change their shot selection. They didn't do that kinds of stuff. But the Lakers undid a lot of that damage. They came out and they played very well and very hard throughout the third and into the fourth quarter. you know and it's not the officials that may you know put the lid back on the the bucket in the fourth where the lakers could only score 19 points like not picking on jake laravia who had a really strong third quarter and was working hard throughout this game on monday night

Starting point is 00:05:46 there was you know a stretch where he had about three really open cracks at threes they need to go in like you know Oklahoma City keeps making their got to have them threes. The Lakers generally missed their got to have them threes. And, you know, LeBron missed a couple. Jake missed a couple. Rui made one. But generally speaking, the Lakers missed where Oklahoma City fine. But, you know, this was a game where...

Starting point is 00:06:16 Oklahoma City shot 10% better from behind the arc in this game on basically the same amount of threes. Like Isaiah Joe in the first. half was absolutely enfuego. And that combined with the points given up off turnovers, where those were really the big separation points in the first half. Like took Jalen Williams, he had a monster fourth quarter, but it took him a while to get going in this game. But you know, and so all of that is true. And I'm not debating any of that. I'm not absolving the Lakers for their, you know, you got to play four quarters of good basketball. I, you know, no Shea for Oklahoma City, but that is certainly balanced by Luca not being there for the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:07:01 So, you know, both teams missing their stars. Oklahoma City certainly has more depth available to them in that setup than the Lakers do. And it's not like they're left with nothing. Jalen Williams was back in the lineup after a long absence. So he was back in the lineup. Chet, Holmgren's going to the All-Star game. So, you know, again, the Thunder are not without players, even when Shea doesn't play. but you start going through it.

Starting point is 00:07:27 The foul that they missed on AR, you know, Austin Reeves driving to the basket, splits a double is fouled egregiously in the process, and not only doesn't get the call, gets teed up for it. And yeah, okay, fine. Don't, you know, keep your mouth shut, Austin. But, you know, as he said to the referee,

Starting point is 00:07:50 make the bleeping call, Austin is correct. Make the bleeping call. Jay had, Jay chose to, had to, however you want to define it, used two of his challenges on calls

Starting point is 00:08:05 that were obviously plays that were going to be overturned. The most egregious being an inbound pass where the ball bounced off of like Isaiah Hartenstein's hands a foot and a half away from Marcus Smart and they gave the ball to Oklahoma City. You can argue whether or not JJ should have used

Starting point is 00:08:24 the challenge there. About eight minutes left and it was his last one. But the fact that the referees made such a terrible call, you have to make that decision. And that shouldn't happen. There was a ball to down. I didn't, I just for the record, didn't, and I tweeted

Starting point is 00:08:40 it at Cam Brothers. I did not like him using that challenge there just because, A, I did not think it was consequential enough in terms of what was at stake. Like it would have been one thing. To me, it would have been a bigger deal if it would to put Marcus Smart in foul trouble because they were going to need him there or anything like that.

Starting point is 00:08:59 But I didn't think the stakes were big enough. It was straight up possession. There was possession of the ball. That was what they were going to get. And then in the ensuing play, the Lakers basically turned the ball over. Right. They didn't make up. They didn't use the possession well.

Starting point is 00:09:16 That was my thing. Like if it had been called as a foul on smart or something like that where you were trying to keep them on the court, fine. to me the stakes were not big enough on that possession. And the way this game was getting called, I would have taken my chances that I might need that second challenge at some point over the next eight minutes. Totally fair. But you are correct that it shouldn't have come to that in the first place.

Starting point is 00:09:39 Exactly. And so, you know, ball bounces out of bounds. Lakers should have been awarded it. There were a lot of these types of plays. And I will give Oklahoma City credit. The reason the games get officiated this way is in part because they are like Remember the Detroit game earlier in the season where the Pistons come into town? They just, they play an incredibly physical band.

Starting point is 00:10:01 They brawled tonight. Oh, yeah. Did you see, we'll go to break in a second? Isaiah Stewart saw a fight and he was off the bench like a rocket. An on-court fight is the equivalent of the bat signal to Isaiah Stewart. Like, he sees that and he just runs to action. It's the rabbit in Greyhound racing and starts. going around the track.

Starting point is 00:10:24 He, man, Isaiah Stewart, like Isaiah Stewart could be attending a game just as a civilian and see a fight breakout and he's going to run

Starting point is 00:10:33 from his court side seats onto the hardwood and get the middle of it. You won't be seeing if you're locked on pistons, folks will be soon talking about a probably fairly lengthy suspension for Isaiah Stewart

Starting point is 00:10:45 for coming off the bench and a fight. But after the break, though, like, It's an interesting conversation about what should be done or how a game like this ought to be called when one team sets the physicality agenda and the way that Oklahoma City does, to their credit, in every game. So we'll get to that next.

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Starting point is 00:13:28 That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. So, I mean, Oklahoma City, essentially, in a lot of ways, was, you know, they're kind of playing rugby. And, you know, a lot of clutching, a lot of grabbing. They got a lot of strong dudes who can play with that very physical style. I, it is not the way the Lakers typically play. I'm not saying the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:14:00 It's not me calling them soft. It's just a matter of style. The Lakers draw fouls. They like to get to the line. Austin Reeves does it. LeBron does it. Lucas certainly does it. But they aren't a, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:15 what you would think of as a physical team, clutching, grabbing, and playing in that way. I actually thought they did a nice job in this game, Andy, of matching Oklahoma City's, physicality. I was impressed by the way they kind of you know, instead of letting the game get away from them in the first half, they met it coming out of the break. They put LeBron in the post.

Starting point is 00:14:41 LeBron started bullying people around. And I thought that, you know, Jackson Hayes was working hard. DeAndre Aiton was, had some terrible plays in this game. But overall, I think also at least tried to match the energy was pretty good on the glass. And the Lakers were working to meet that physicality. But it's pretty clear that the game was being both played and certainly officiated, I thought, on Oklahoma City's terms, which is a major advantage to the Thunder. Well, this is the advantage that comes A with being the defending champs,

Starting point is 00:15:16 but also when you've established for a few seasons, this is who you are. And refs become accustomed to officiating the team that you establish. yourself as being. And everyone knows this is who the thunder are, but if you look up and down the cast of characters, they all pretty much play in that type of physicality-heavy style. Like Shea's physical in his own right, certainly as a guy

Starting point is 00:15:44 drawing fouls. Jalen Williams, very physical on both sides of the ball. Chad Holmgren, physical on both sides of the ball, despite being like seven foot a buck 10. He is a really physical player. Isaiah Hartenstein. He, hugely physical. Lou Dort, maybe the most physical player in the league in a way that pisses off

Starting point is 00:16:02 the other 29 fan bases, but this is who he is. Kaysan Wallace, very physical. Alex Caruso, like, down the line, like this is the identity of the team. And you mentioned like the Pistons, the game that the Lakers recently played against them.

Starting point is 00:16:19 In fairly short time, they have started to establish themselves as that type of team. Like you have to put in a lot of like hours. You got to pay in flesh. Like you got to really do this for a while if you want to start being officiated that way. You know, the Lakers, this was the rare game, particularly at home, where the other team got to the line more than them. The Thunder got there 29 times.

Starting point is 00:16:51 The Lakers, I believe, got there 22. and I don't say that to complain about the discrepancy as much as to underscore how this is something they're not used to on top of the physicality. Like there was a lot of calls. They felt that they should have been getting and felt like that the Thunder were able to play a more physical brand of basketball

Starting point is 00:17:16 than they were allowed to. I think they are also better at doing it than the Lakers can. And they are better at a... It's better at a lot of things. But I'm saying this specific thing. They are better than the Lakers at, and they are better at doing it in a way

Starting point is 00:17:36 that forces the refs to swallow the whistles at times because you're not going to call quite literally everything. Does that mean the refs at times should have called more or just called the game more correctly? Yeah. But again, these are the advantage. you build up. Like typically the Lakers

Starting point is 00:17:55 build an advantage of getting to the line, especially when Luke is out there. Like this is part of an advantage that they build up. And you could just see, though, that the discrepancy in the way physicality

Starting point is 00:18:10 could be utilized by the Lakers or in their minds felt like was utilized against them by the Thunder got to them a lot. It's interesting to me because a lot of in a lot of ways this style Oklahoma City the Pacers the Lakers to some degree they

Starting point is 00:18:30 it's not in terms of like the really the physical you know defense you're getting right up on people whatever but the the drawing of Fowls Luca getting into the paint and SGA does it for the Thunder you know Luca does it for the Lakers AR definitely does it for the Lakers where they put themselves in a position where you as an official have to make a, you have to make a call. And the Thunder are doing kind of the opposite of that, where they're as a defensive team, as screeners and all these things, they are putting the referees in a position where you are daring them to make every call.

Starting point is 00:19:17 And with the idea knowing full well that like, The referees don't want to be in the center of everything. They don't want to ruin the game flow by calling 19 fouls a quarter. And all these other players know that. And Oklahoma City plays in a way, especially defensively, that takes advantage of that in the same way that the Lakers, with their stars, take advantage of the sort of need to make guys. you know, blow the whistle and and give star players kind of the star treatment.

Starting point is 00:19:57 And I respect how Oklahoma City does. None of this is a criticism of a thunder. I am a huge fan of the organization and that team and the players on it. I am both in awe and very much jealous of their ability to seem to find players everywhere. Like years ago when the lake, played the Thunder in the 2010 for opening round. It was the first time the Thunder as an organization had made the playoffs. And I was sent there by ESPN when Brian and I were writing for the dot com to cover the series.

Starting point is 00:20:37 But Dave McManendeman and I split it up. Dave was actually covering the Lakers and I was sent to cover the Thunder, which was an interesting experience because it was the first time I'd ever really covered another team like up close for an extended period. I spent a lot of time around the organization, practices, talked to some people there. I was impressed, like incredibly impressed by how everything was run then when they were really first getting started in all this, much less now.

Starting point is 00:21:08 Like you, and by the way, so were the Lakers. And they talked about it afterwards. I remember Kobe saying, like, it is good that we beat these guys now because nobody's going to be, they're going to be. They're going to be a real tough out. And they're an incredibly well-run organization. And so, but like, so you look at this and like, you know, to their credit, the, the Thunder who are, they've got a lot of shooters, but like still somehow seem like,

Starting point is 00:21:34 see people seem to think of them as not a great shooting team, I guess. But like, you know, they've got. Well, they're not really. I know, but like it seems like they should be. But, you know, Caruso was super clutch with his threes. Jalen Williams. I'm sorry, not Jalien Williams, but Isaiah Joe hit a bunch early. I'm trying to remember who hit one of the late threes for them.

Starting point is 00:21:57 But, you know, I think might have been dored. But they- Big Jalen Williams hit a few. The tall one. That's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, big Jalen Williams hit three-threes in this game. And so, but like they made their got-a-have-it shots, and the Lakers missed their got-a-have-it shots.

Starting point is 00:22:13 And, like, that makes a big difference. And so, you know, shot-making is a, a big deal, all these other things. It just this game to me became kind of a real and I think you put it well in the last segment Andy. It's like earlier in the segment like it's

Starting point is 00:22:30 equity and the Lakers haven't been able to build up a lot of equity other than they're pretty consistent in the last few years as a team that draws fouls.

Starting point is 00:22:45 It will demand you you know, because they got guys who play downhill. You used to be LeBron. Now it's, you know, more AR and Luca. And it was AD before then as well. Yeah. They demand that you call files. They put referees in a position to do that.

Starting point is 00:23:03 But aside from that, like this is where the sort of lack of defensive identity the Lakers have, like, kind of hurts because they don't have a counter to what Oklahoma City was doing with that kind of physicality other than to meet it and try to play. on another team's terms. And, you know, there's sort of a lesson in that for maybe what they can try to establish over the next couple of years. It doesn't have to look like this, but it should look like something. We can definitely talk about that and also some of the individual performances coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:25:48 exactly the same. We love you. We love you no matter how you get the show. This was this this is one of those games, Andy, when you start with like who was available. Obviously, Luca wasn't. LeBron was not good in the first half. And then they kind of found a different way to make him more effective. They didn't make him face up the Oklahoma City defense nearly as much in the third quarter.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Kind of let him play old man bully ball from the post. much more effective. Lakers took better care of the ball. The evolution of how best to get the most out of LeBron this year is still kind of a work in progress. Yeah, particularly with the three-point shot not falling, like kind of quietly. He's shooting 31% from behind the arc. By the way, too, just really quick. They showed this graphic during the Peacock broadcast of LeBron's all-time stats rankings. Points first, seasons, first, All-Star selections, first, minutes first, games played second, assists, fourth, three-point field goals made six, steals, six.

Starting point is 00:27:00 That is, that's some gaudy work there, kids. Pretty good. To your point, though, it was a slowish start for LeBron in the first half, eight points, four, seven for the field, three assists, but also three turnovers. That third quarter, which featured a lot of the post-up work that you're talking about, that was really LeBron at his most effective, 10 points, 3 or 4 from the field, 4 of 4 at the line. He had three assists, a steal against no turnovers. But the fourth quarter, pretty quiet, four points on 2 of 6 shooting. And then Austin Reeves, really strong first half, 12 points, 5 of 7 from the field,

Starting point is 00:27:39 six assists, two turnovers. second half for Austin, he struggled a lot. Four points, one of seven from the field, two turnovers against one assist, and I think increasing outward frustration with the calls, non-calls, and the general refereeing. This was a game, not that Luca's presence isn't missed if he's unavailable in any game, because he's Luca F. and Donchich, but this was really a game where he was missed, because it was one where the next two best players, Austin and LeBron,

Starting point is 00:28:18 could not sustain momentum against an opponent that's obviously really difficult. But in knights like these are when you don't just need all hands on deck, but you need your best player, if possible, to try to bridge the struggles of the other guys. And look, like at the top of the show, Jalen Willis. Williams didn't really get going in this game until the fourth quarter. But when it mattered most that fourth quarter, dude was a monster. It's also to the Lakers really, really, in Oakland City's a good defensive team. The Lakers struggled in a big way to get looks to just generate, like they missed

Starting point is 00:29:06 and they missed the ones they had. but like it was so much harder for them to get a clean shot and that's some of that's lebron some of that's austin you know being of the you know the the sort of the gravity and and the movement and the motion and the the ability to penetrate all that stuff that your best players generate is in part what makes the you know the flow go but like it's not just the offense got stagnant like they're just the just Oklahoma City just sort of clamp down on everything the Lakers were trying to do. And they didn't get enough looks at the basket.

Starting point is 00:29:48 They didn't get enough good looks at the basket. When they did get good looks at the basket, they missed. And so, you know, what Luca does is he just start, he pulled, not only does he find open players and he's very difficult to trap and to force into bad plays, he is this. sort of often can be like that chess piece that, you know, allows LeBron to be away from the ball and catch the ball in the move, whether it's from the pass directly from Luca, from the past from the guy who Luca passed to, whatever it is. And now, you know, especially when, you know, you try to trap Luca high on the floor, now it's five on, you know, four on three, you know,

Starting point is 00:30:29 below the three point. All that stuff goes away when Luke is not there because LeBron isn't frightening like that out on the perimeter in the same way. way anymore. And AR is, you know, he's an incredibly clever player. And he's very good at getting in the line. But, you know, isn't the same kind of facilitator as Luca Donchich. They just, the lack of playmaking, Marcus Smart's kind of an adventure, maybe a little bit. He is a human can of four loco, man. It is all over the place. It is at times, I've described before, like his alley-up lob pass style.

Starting point is 00:31:17 And really, you could say his whole game. It's a lot like a David Lynch movie. Like, it's not for everyone's taste. It will at times horrify you. It can be terrifying. It can reflect some of the ugliest underbelly of society. But at the same time, you cannot take your. eyes off what's happening in front of you.

Starting point is 00:31:39 Yeah, and they'll study it in colleges. I, I mean, like, every, it's hard to know. Like, is this a good thing that's happening that Marcus is doing? This is a bad thing that's happening?

Starting point is 00:31:51 I can't, I can't tell why. But I always want to see where it's going. I do. I will watch to the end. That man needs a Leroy-Jenkins back tat. Like his entire style is Leroy-Jenkins, man. They just,

Starting point is 00:32:04 you know, the connective tissue, the athleticism, you know, some of the defensive shortcomings they were picking on Kennard a little bit. And it's just it's just harder for the

Starting point is 00:32:20 Lakers to get what they needed down the stretch of this game. And I, so we'll see. I mean, look, I don't think anybody thinks the Lakers are better than Thunder. But they played a good game. It was a competitive game. It was a good game. Looking forward to seeing

Starting point is 00:32:36 what it looks like when everybody's back. It's nothing to be ashamed of this law. And I actually, and I like the, the, the Lakers didn't, in other games this season, the Lakers, when faced with the kind of deficit that they had and looked like it was going to become lose by 20. They've had a lot of games like that where they lose by 15, 20,

Starting point is 00:33:01 25, 30. And this had the looks of one of those games for a little while. they didn't allow that to happen. They met the physicality. They met the effort level. As JJ Redick noted, like, it requires effort and execution. They got half of it right. I know people are just crushing DeAndre Aden in the comments.

Starting point is 00:33:23 And again, he's been all over the map in the last month or, you know, six weeks. I think he was a perfect example of that. Like, DeAndre played hard, I thought, in this game. but he also made some really bad plays and like executed poorly overplayed on a on an important possession later in the fourth quarter that broke the lakers defense down led to a bucket for the for the for the for the thunder he made a great play to get an offensive rebound in traffic brought the ball down and it was stolen like it was just it was it was exactly what j jay was talking about like good effort bad execution so we'll see what happens we'll see see who plays Tuesday night in San Antonio. They didn't ask, I didn't hear JJ get asked about AR. Luca, I would probably be honest, would be surprised if Luca went from out to in in a day. I mean, unless it's purely been about the back-to-backs and they planned on taking him out the first leg of this, plan to play him second.

Starting point is 00:34:29 I mean, that would be the only way. I haven't seen, right, but I haven't seen, you know, any indication that we'll see about LeBron. We'll see. If Luca doesn't play... I'm assuming, I mean, LeBron has played a lot of back-to-backs, or at least the last few back-to-backs.

Starting point is 00:34:43 He's started. I mean, the most recent ones he's played, but if both Luca and Austin are out, they might just decide... They might just sit, LeBron. That's kind of where I was going. So we'll see what that looks like. Obviously, we'll be back after the game to break it all down.

Starting point is 00:35:00 For you Lockdown Lickers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone. after the game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Without Luka Dončić, the Lakers Fight Hard but Lose to Oklahoma City, 119-110

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