The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Lakers Lose Stunner To Hornets + SGA’s MVP Case

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Jason Timpf breaks down the Los Angeles Lakers’ “sloppy” loss to the Charlotte Hornets including Luka Doncic having another subpar performance, LeBron James almost bringing them back, and LaMelo Ball leading the way to a win. He also discusses Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP case for the Oklahoma City Thunder and how impressive it’s been considering Chet Holmgren missing time and Jalen Williams’s shooting slump. Visit microsoft.com/challengers to learn more. Timeline 4:00 - Start 5:00 - Sloppy Lakers/Hornets game 16:30 - Lamelo is polarizing 30:00 - Lakers defense 34:45 - SGA’s MVP case #Volume #Herd Follow Jason Timpf on social: https://twitter.com/_JasonLT https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. I got a jam-pack show for you today. We got back to some NBA basketball last night as the Lakers put up a stinker against the Charlotte Hornets, some brilliant basketball from LaBella Ball and Miles Bridges down the stretch.

They steal that game. We're going to break that game down from the perspective of both teams. Then at the tail end of the show, I got a little bit about Shagel just Alexander in his current. MVP case. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed, wherever we get

your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you guys leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Make sure you guys follow us there so you can get more content throughout the rest of the season. And last minute least, keep dropping mailbag questions. We can get to them in our Friday mailbags throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So I honestly thought this was a really sloppy game from both teams outside of a few short stretches. Like the Lakers controlled the first two and a half quarters, but I didn't think they were playing particularly well, really sloppy, especially on the offensive end, still a lot of guys feeling

each other out. Here's the thing. When you trade Anthony Davis, who's one of the very best defensive players in the history of the sport for a player who is an MVP level offensive player and you get poor play on the offensive end from that player, you're going to see some talent discrepancies start to show. And we're going to talk about it later, but there are also some issues that the Lakers are having with their small ball groups and spacing as they kind of try to figure out how to play a different brand of basketball than they've been playing the rest of this season.

We'll get to that in a little bit, but just a lot of sloppiness, right? Yet somehow they're in control for the first two and a half quarters, despite not playing well. And it's because despite everything I just said, the Hornets were playing even worse. JJ Reddick talked after the game about some of the realities of teams he's been on post All-Star break and how they can run into just a little bit of funk because you're just not used to playing.

Basketball is very much a rhythm sport. And he's been on teams where they've come out of the break and they've looked great. And he's been on teams where they've come out of the break and look terrible. It's kind of just part of the sport, right? So they're playing some sloppy basketball. The Hornets come out in the late third quarter, finally start playing what I thought was the first stretch of good basketball that either team played. last night and they promptly went on a 23 to one run that really changed the dynamic of that

game and Charlie got going on offense in that stretch. I thought Nurchich was really the catalyst of this portion of the game getting a, you know, Nurkich is a guy that got a bad rap for a lot of things in Phoenix and he's a really flawed player. And I'm not trying to sit here and pretend like he's some sort of savior for the Charlotte Hornets or anything like that. But Nirkich has some skills and he can play like I was impressed in years past in Phoenix at some of his drop coverage defense. He got a couple of big drop coverage stops. One on LeBron James where he stonewalled in the play where Austin Reeves got ejected. He stripped him down low and it may or may not have been a foul, but like a lot of times contact right around the basketball, refs are going to let that sort of thing

go. It's kind of like a 50-50 call and he got a good strip there that led to that that ejection. The free throw is also a stop. Like I've been. you know, generally keyed in on a couple of things that Nerkich can do well. And he did those things well during this run. He facilitated a back cut to Miles Bridges on like a spurs cut, which is where the post player has the ball right around the elbow and the offensive player just cuts off his shoulder. Nerkich will pivot into his space and drop it over the top. Now all of a sudden you got dribble penetration. J.J. Redick and the Lakers were double teaming, Yusuf Nerkich in the post against this centerless Lakers group, which, by the way, Nurkich had zero points last night. So I

have probably like made him score once or twice before I started reacting the way that they did. But he made really nice passes out of the double team. Got a wide open three for Miles Bridges on the left wing that he knocked down. Got another wide open three one pass away for Seth Curry on the right wing that he knocked down. I thought Nurkich was definitely the catalyst of that run, at least the initial part of the run as the Hornets took their initial lead. Shout to Seth, shout out to Seth Curry, too. He had a couple of huge plays in that stretch. Kept two possessions alive, too, stripped Jared Vanderbilt after a defensive rebound, right underneath the basket. He beat LeBron to a loose ball that generated an extra

offensive rebound. They go on this run. They take a three-point lead going into the early part of the fourth quarter. Then Lamello comes into the game and immediately hits two threes, and suddenly they're up by nine. It was kind of like this fancy screen and re-screen action with Seth Curry, where Lamello ball like screens down to the game. for Seth Curry who comes off the screen and then immediately turns around in screens for Lamello again. It's just designed to confuse switching. And Gabe Vincent and Dalton Connect were the two players involved. And Gabe was kind of waiting for whoever went in towards the paint. And Dalton should have been waiting forever who came for whoever came out. But Dalton wasn't paying attention.

Lamello just flashed to the top, caught the ball, knocked down a three point shot. And then the other three hit was just simple drop coverage shot. Alex Lenz on the floor. He's sitting back in a drop. Just get that ball screen gets a little bit of separation at the top of the key, knocks it down. Suddenly the Lakers are down by nine. That was how quickly things turned around. That whole run, that whole 23 to one run took place in just a little bit over five minutes of game time. So that was like the first stretch of real serious basketball that either team played leads

to an avalanche. Suddenly we got ourselves kind of like a Lakers back against the wall type of fourth quarter. And then we get this just completely absurd run from LeBron. who I think was really the only Laker who played well last night. Just an absolute freight train to the rim, a driving, spinning floater against Seth Curry, a driving layup against Tijan, and a driving layup through Lamella ball and transition. Then a post-up double of Luca, LeBron drives the closeout instead of taking a three and throws down what I think was the dunk of the year against Mark Williams, just completely absurd.

It actually reminded me of the dunk that he had back in 2018 against Nirkage. Different dunk is on that done. dunk, LeBron is going down the left lane line and kind of dunked off to his right side, whereas this one he's dunking over his body to the left. But it reminded me in the sense that he kind of went around the center and then just extended, like LeBron is a very underrated wingspan. He just kind of extended over the top and finish. It's just a completely ridiculous dunk. If there's any sort of like encouragement or optimism that you want to take from the early returns of the Luca Donchish experience with the Lakers, it's that LeBron looks absolutely

fantastic. And if LeBron is going to play at this level and you eventually get MVP level Luca into this mix, it's just a lot of top end talent for teams to contend with. But he follows right up after the dunk on Mark Williams with a three against Mark Williams on a switch. He had another nice play later in the game in

clutch time where he drove Mark Williams on a switch and got a foul, hit the three that gave them a shot late in the game, although he ended up missing the shot that could have tied the game. But just an unbelievable run from LeBron James kind of reinstigates. It's some control for the Lakers as it turns into a clutch battle. But then down the stretch, Miles Miles Bridges and Lamella ball, they just outduled LeBron and Luca. In large part, because the Lakers,

again, not getting anything from Luca on the offensive end of the floor, at least by Lucas standards. Like, Luca had a bunch of really nice plays and pick and roll and out of the post where he generated advantages. You know, that's the thing with players of his talent level. Like, we all think he played like garbage. And here's the thing. He did by his standards. But like he still did a lot. They still won his minutes, but there's a certain level of, there's a certain level of pop that you're going to get from Luca offensively that you just haven't seen yet in the Lakers jersey. A simple way to put it is their offensive rating right now as a unit in three games is like 111 and change. Like that's, that's obviously just a tiny fraction of the type of offensive impact that you should get from that

group in the big picture. But on the other end of the floor, Lamello was picking on Luca and switch is something that we need to get used to seeing as we watch the Lakers. That's definitely going to be a huge part of the way teams attack. And the Lakers were just struggling on the back end to handle that. He got downhill and drew a foul against Jackson Hayes, another one where he dropped it off to Mark Williams for an easy two under the rim. Miles Bridges hit a bunch of big shots in this stretch. I always talk about the idea, Derek White is the best in the league at this, in my opinion, but the idea of like switch interchange and the gap that takes place there. So like basically if Miles Bridges is dribbling against one player and, uh,

a Hornet comes up and sets a screen, and that player is going to be, the guy who's guarding the screener is going to be switching out to Miles Bridges. But there's like an interchange, right? There's a gap as the on-ball defender disengages and the new switching defender engages. Now, really good switching defense. You're usually closing out in those situations and switching with aggression. You're switching with ball pressure to close that interchange gap as quickly as you can. But the Lakers were really sloppy on that.

by the way, some of this stuff, like, I want to cut the Lakers some slack in terms of the game plan because, like, Lamello ball, a jump shot for Lamello ball has been worth less than a point this year. A jump shot for Miles Bridges has been worth less than a point this year. So like some of this is like, I could, I can imagine the game plan was close out a bit shorter on some of these types of shots, but it doesn't matter in the moment when Lamello is hitting and has been hitting all night. And Miles Bridges is hitting and has been hitting all night. Like you kind of have to. make that adjustment. And there were three times in the second half where Miles Bridges hit threes against those switch interchanges, particularly Jared Vanderbilt and Jackson Hayes on those switches were slow to get out to the perimeter and knock those shots down. Those were all huge shots for Miles Bridges that really kind of helped Charlotte maintain control of the game. Then the two biggest plays of the game. So again, LeBron draws a foul against Mark Williams. and then Luca gets an offensive rebound put back. Suddenly the Lakers are up by one in the final minute,

just because of a couple of plays made by LeBron and Luca. But the Lakers just couldn't contain Lamello two times in a row. He generates a bucket. The first one gets Luca on a switch. Dorian Finney Smith doubles. When Dorian Finney Smith doubles, he waves Luca out of the switch. Now, when he waves Luca out of the double,

Luca's got to rotate, everyone's got to rotate. So on this particular possession, LeBron is hugged up to Miles Bridges in the left corner. You've got Gabe Vincent on Mark Williams right underneath the basket. And you've got Rui Hachamura on Josh Green on the left wing. And Nick Smith Jr. is wide open in the left corner. So when Dorian Finney Smith waves Luca out, if everyone's on a string and they're connected, it's an easy rotation. Luca drops to Miles Bridges.

LeBron drops to Mark Williams. Gabe drops to the corner to Nick Smith. And if they're on, I call them windshield wiper rotations. When they're connected, when guys are rotating at the same time, those openings close up immediately. But when there's a delay, that's when things fall apart. Both LeBron and Gabe just seems completely aloof and weren't paying attention. They stayed hugged up.

Gabe had this crazy like 20 foot close out to the left corner. And Nick Smith made the shot. He made them pay for that defensive breakdown. Again, we'll talk about that in a minute. but the Lakers are going to have to have a plan for how to handle these Luca situations and they're going to have to execute better. And then the second one, you put Vanderbilt in as a defense offense sub so that you can get a stop.

And Vando just gets cooked by Lamello. It just gets completely cooked on a little left to right crossover. The Lakers were offering a lot of nail help where they were like digging down from the wing, but guys were just swiping instead of actually like containing the drive. Rui and Gabe had really bad examples of this in crunch time. and Lamello just cut right through the lane and just shot that little scoop shot and that put the Lakers in a bind. And yeah, LeBron hit a three that gave him a chance late, but that ended up more or less being the play that did them in. And I just thought Lamello and Miles made more plays than LeBron and Luca did down the stretch and it was enough to get a win on the road.

My only thought on the Hornets that I wanted to share after this one, Lamello is such a polarizing player for me when I watch him because he does a lot of things that drive me crazy dribbles the air out of the basketball. he kind of has like a I just did like a general air of unseasoned like unsiriousness. Like he's just kind of floating around. There's a lot of like unorthodox footwork. There's a lot of like it kind of just seems like he's playing around a lot of the times.

But the talent level is completely absurd. Just has a ridiculous handle. He might sit there and make 35 fakes before he actually tries to drive past you, but he's probably going to drive past you. Once he gets past you, he's just such a great finisher. He's such a great playmaker. and if you sit back and contain the drive, again, he hasn't been shooting super well. But when he has the jump shot going, he can make you pay for sitting back off of him.

Last night he was hitting and he consistently made the Lakers pay. Just a really tantalizing prospect strictly from a talent perspective, even if he can drive me crazy sometimes. On the Lakers front, I'm going to say the same thing I said out to the Utah loss. The loss itself doesn't mean anything. Like we all know that the Lakers could easily dispatch of the Charlotte Hornets. if they were in a more urgent type of situation. The Lakers traded for Anthony,

traded Anthony Davis for Luca, and they haven't really gotten Luca yet. I'm not worried about it at all. I see a lot of people trying to bury Luca after these first couple of games. I think that would be a huge mistake. Like, he's just going to play much better in the big picture. And honestly,

aside from a couple of small things that will get into involving spacing and some stuff with Jared Vanderbilt, I'm actually super encouraged by what I've seen from this group on offense so far. You know, this just, it all makes sense to me in terms of the advantage creation, the play finishing, other than Jared Vanderbilt, it seems like everyone is kind of like a perfect fit on the offensive end of the floor. So like I'm not worried about that at all. But again, like I said after the Utah game, I do think there's value in looking at how you lost

the game and what in that mix you can take away as like a legitimate area of opportunity for you to improve as a basketball team. Jared Vanderbilt is the guy that's sticking out like a sore thumb so far in the Luca era. In the three games that he's played so far with Luca, they have a minus 21.4 net rating with him on the floor. 103 offensive rating, a 124 defensive rating. And that's the main thing I want to highlight right away. Like he's been really bad on defense, which is so unusual for him, right?

Like a lot of dumb stuff last night. Like he had a play where he in the third quarter where he, hard closed out on Dick Juan Jeffries on the left wing. And it's like DeKuan Jeffries can't shoot. He's like 30% on catch and shoot jump shots this year. Hard close out ends up giving up a drive and Dickon hits a little scoop shot over the top of him. Or like on that final possession losing lamella ball on a straight line drive. Or he several times over the first couple of games where he's gotten defensive rebounds,

but he hasn't had good awareness of what's happening around him and he gets stripped from behind or fumbles the ball away. a good chunk of Jared Vanderbilt's impact can be improved by him just doing what he gets paid to do, which is be one of the best defensive players in the league, which is what he hasn't been over the course of these few games, right? But on offense, it's pretty simple. The teams are putting their centers on him, parking that center under the rim. And this is a real problem that isn't going away with these centerless groups. That's been so interesting thinking about the center position as much as we have over the course of the last couple of weeks since the Luca trade,

because the centers have looked good, with exception of Alex Len in that Utah game. Like, the Lakers were plus 12 last night with Jackson Hayes on the floor. They were plus eight with Alex Len on the floor. So they were plus 20 with their centers on the floor. That's how bad their small ball groups got butchered. And this team has a lot of good small ball personnel. JJ believes in small ball. It wouldn't matter if you had Mark Williams or if you had a better center.

JJ's going to play a lot of small ball with this group and they're going to have to figure that part out. There's a couple different things I want to look at there. First of all, like, Vando's got to find his space within this fit on the floor without a center on the offensive end of the floor. This extends beyond Vando, by the way, because there were small ball groups that have struggled even without Vando over the course of this stretch. One of the things that changes when you shift to this style of offense, which is, again, I've talked about this a lot on the show, but like in when you're running a motion and you got the ball constantly flowing from side to side and you have your big operating as a screener, dribble handoff, fulcrum at the show. the top of the key, which was the right way to play with Austin Dilo and LeBron. And that's why it worked so well last year under Darwin, when you have that five out motion concept, your dunker spot, your roll man type of stuff around the basket, it's always vacant

until someone cuts into that space or rolls into that space. Once you start playing more like this style, where it's like a lot more of like LeBron, Luca, spread the floor, ball screens, post-ups where it's more brute force. it becomes easier to space the floor in more of a four-out one-in context, meaning like if LeBron's going to be attacking a matchup, like a one-on-one matchup on the left wing, if everyone standing around the three-point line, the gaps get pretty shrunken, right?

And then suddenly people are helping in driving lanes, and it gets pretty difficult to play. So you want to take one of those guys that's at the three-point line, and you want to tuck them underneath the basket, right? Now, a way that a lot of small-ball teams will confront this is instead of putting a big man down there, they'll put a guard down there. And it's a very simple reason why. If you have a guard in the dunker spot, the guy guarding him is probably a guard. So if you beat your man off the dribble and get into the paint, the first

line of defense you're going to run into is most likely a smaller player. And so one of the things the Lakers are having issues with is Jared Vanderbilt, in many cases, isn't even in the dunker spot? Like he's kind of floating around, not even as a screener, he's kind of floating around. So part of it is like getting Vando into the dunker spot or get Vando out of the dunker spot, have him operate out of the corner as a crasher as an off ball screener and try to have more situations where you have a guard right underneath the basket where you can quickly catch and finish. Have a Rui Hachamura who's been drawing smaller defenders and did a lot of damage in the post last night. Have a Gabe Vincent down there in that spot. But Vando's going to be the issue.

There will be a lot of sequences where Vando is in the dunker spot, but he has a center on him. and that center feels comfortable splitting the difference between helping and contesting Vando at the rim. So what do you do in that situation? When Vando is your issue underneath the basket, that is where having Luca at MVP level makes such a huge difference. Luca is one of the very best shot makers in this league. Luca can be impervious to spacing at times because of his ability to score in the short to mid range, right? And so again, like, just by having Vando play much better, on defense. And by having

Luca play much better on offense, these lineups can work a lot better than they have. However, I do think it's important to at least factor in that Vando could be an issue there. It's something that against the best teams in the league, that have elite rim protection, it's a

problem that the Lakers might have to face and that they might have to deal with. And again, what you can do there is if Vando's off the floor, you can try to make up for that by having guards in the dunker spot to create space like we talked about earlier, that's what the Celtics do so incredibly well. But again, just having Luca play better, having Jared Vanderbilt play better on defense

will go a long way. Austin, too, like I talked about this after the Utah game. Like, Austin's one of the most reliable big game players in the NBA. I trust that dude so much when it's an important game against a good team. But he can throw out some stinkers against some bad teams. And like, I thought Austin was really bad last night. And then he compounded it by complaining about a foul call, which by the way, like I talked about earlier, was a 50-50 call. It wasn't like a rake on the arms.

It was a rake kind of right around the wrist ball area. And when it's a bang, bang, sequence in a basketball game, that's a call that refs will miss. Like I talked about earlier, I view that as like a 50-50 call. Sometimes you're going to get it. Sometimes it's going to be called a strip. And for you to lose control, run up on the ref, say whatever you said. He said it three times.

He bumped him on the elbow. Like you made it so that you had to get ejected. And now all of a sudden you're in a situation where you have less talent on the floor down the stretch of the game. So like again, it is what it is. I'm not worried about Austin. Austin's always going to be there as a foxhole guy when when the shit's hitting the fan against a good team. But Austin didn't do his team any favors last night by getting himself kicked out of that game. Hey, it's us to Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called. Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to us. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide. range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it

one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey Jonas. and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and Headwere writer Streeter Seidel, help an

a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Joe Dono. You might

know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast,

Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends

as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary.

Oh, cream of chick. Hey, cream, cream and chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura podcast network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find

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Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I want to move to the defensive end of the floor for just a second, though, because this is going to be something that is a big talking point for the Lakers moving forward.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not worried about the Lakers' offense at all. I just, they're going to figure it out. They have a 11.15.5 offensive rating so far, that's going to be turned around at some point over the course of the next couple of weeks. But on the defensive end of the floor, the idea of teams attacking Luca Donchich in space is going to be a problem that they're going to have to address. So first of all, before we get into any like schematic stuff,

you just have to do better. Like, you just have to do a better job of containing the ball. And this goes deeper than just Luca. This goes down the roster to a bunch of different guys. like Rui got back cut a bunch of times last night. Like that's a way of giving up dribble penetration just by not paying attention, right? Like you're one of your top tier defenders in Jared Vanderbilt gives up a key drive late in the game. But even Luca himself, by virtue of getting into better shape, by virtue of just competing more on the ball,

if he can flatten out some of those drives. Again, like think of it on a very basic level. A straight line drive is going to be very difficult to react to as a helper. But if you can flatten out the drive so that it's more of a better, banana route out to the side. That's what delays that enough for you to have easier rotations on the backside. But when you're giving up dribble penetration, you have to be prepared. There were large portions of this game where I thought they looked great in this regard. The Lakers were throwing a lot of low man help. And again, in the low man, all that means is when the ball screen defender is

stepping up, the guy who's guarding the weak side corner slides up underneath the basket to help guard that action three on two. The guy on the wing for the Lakers was doing a good job, dropping down and guarding the corner to cover for the low man. They were missing some of that extra rotation, though, the rotation to the man up the wing. They were missing some of those extra rotations. And then simple stuff like that double team where Doreen, Finney Smith waved Luca out, if you're going to scram Luca out of switches,

and that's basically what that is. So like if Luca gets picked on on a switch and you just run a double team over and get Luca out of there, you're scraming him out of a mismatch. You need to be prepared for that scram. And in crunch time, they had a sequence where they just weren't ready for it. And so, again, different team. You're not used to having a guy like Luke on the floor that you have to cover for, but now you do.

So you just got to figure out the back end of that. And so that's the thing. Like when we talk about the Lakers, they're not going to be some world beating top five a defense. It's just they don't have the personnel for it. Even before this, when they were defending extremely well, like a lot of it was playing really hard in the month of January. and February, right? So, like, I want to be clear. Like, I never thought this team was elite,

but they should be better defensively than they have been. And again, that's all they have to do. They have so much margin for error on the offensive end of the floor. They just need to get to the point where they get enough stops, where they get enough defensive rebounds to allow their offense to push them over the top. And a lot of that will come down to everyone competing better on the ball, getting actual high level defensive impact out of your high level defensive players and having a plan for Luca. Got to have a plan for how to react to those situations when they start picking on Luca in space.

The one last thing that stood out to me, much of this team and their potential success this year will come down to the play of younger players like Rui Hachamura. Rui's played great for the most part as of late, but he's a young player. He can make a lot of mistakes. I talked about him losing Lori Markinen as a shooter a lot in the game right before the All-Star break.

He was lost a lot in this game. there's a play with Nurkich where he was on the right wing post entry to Nurkich, and his man just cuts right off of him. And he's just like, he's not double teaming. He's not guarding anybody. All of a sudden, his man catches the ball in the back cut. It gets sprayed out to Miles Bridges. Then he just throws this crazy reckless close out of Miles Bridges,

he just kind of shows the ball. Rui goes flying by and then Miles hits the three. A lot of possessions like that were Rui's just kind of like all over the place on the defensive end of the floor. And here's the thing. He's such a good offensive player that usually he can start to minimize that by adding margin for error, right? But he goes one for eight from three, misses a couple of important free throws in the final minute that could have tied the game.

That like shines light on all that other stuff. And so another potential weakness we need to keep an eye on for the Lakers in the big picture is just simply that Rui Hachamura is a young player. There's some guys in this rotation that are young players. And you know how I feel about young players when you get to the postseason. It's something that could be an issue. But again, this team will demonstrate a much larger margin for error. they figure out things on offense. And again, I expect them to be a team that when, I wouldn't be surprised if from now through the end of the season, they were well north of a 120 offensive rating once they actually kind of get their sea legs underneath them.

And I think it's only a matter of time. All right, before we get out of here tonight, welcome to course correction brought to you by Microsoft, just like the star players and teams navigating performance hurdles. Business decision makers today are under immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management, and trustworthy, responsible AI. When you're in the NBA, you have your own hurdles to face. In this segment, we explore the challenges faced by teams or star players and how they can turn things around.

Whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say, bring it on. This week, we're discussing the challenge faced by current MVP favorite Shay Gildjellez-Alexander. Two things happened this year that made life substantially tougher on Shea Gilder's Alexander and the Thunder. First, Jalen Williams, really talented young player. He's been embroiled in a season-long shooting slum. His true shooting percentage is a full 6% lower than it was last year, which is not entirely uncommon for a young player. Young players go through going pains. This team has a lot of young players on board. That's been a issue for the Thunder this year. Secondly,

Shea loses his second or his most talented co-star in Chet Holmgren to a broken hit, misses a huge chunk of the season. But it hasn't mattered at all. I saw this crazy stat that my friend Carson Breber from NerdSesh tweeted out yesterday. When Shea Gilges Alexander is on the floor this year, when no Chet and no Jalen Williams. So just imagine Shea Gilders Alexander and a bunch of really young role players, good young role players, but young role players that have flaws,

that have offensive limitations. 1,258 possessions, a massive sample size, a plus 29 net rating, 133 offensive rating, a 104 defensive rating. Just unbelievable work from Shea this season. This half-court shot creation metrics have been off the charts. A pick and roll from Shea, including passes, has been worth 1.1,2 points per possession. That's in the 90th percentile. An ISO for Shea, including passes, has been worth 1.08 points per possession. That's 87th percentile.

A post-up for Shea, including passes, 1.13 points per possession, including passes, 74th percentile. Just picking teams apart. You shoot 44% on all pull-up jumpers, 51% on pull-up jumpers if you wait them for threes, 48% on floaters, 63% on layups, which is insane for a guard. Some of the best athletic wings in league hover in the high 50s at the rim on layups over a block and a steel per game. He's right around three stocks per game. Right now he's minus 500 to win MVP on draft Kings. And I think he absolutely deserves it for overcoming adversity this season to lead the most dominant team in the league this regular season. That's it for this week's course correction. Remember, Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take bold steps and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to

help drive your business forward. Microsoft as your trusted partner, you can navigate your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions and reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft.com slash challengers to learn more. All right, guys, that's all I have for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow with some breakdowns from another slate of NBA games and a mailbag. I will see you guys. What's up, guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight. actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys. I appreciate you. If you could take a minute to do that,

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