Speaker 1: Mmmmmm, We're good, all right. Well, welcome everybody to the
Speaker 1: State of the Lakers post game spaces after what's probably
Speaker 1: gonna be, you know, the lowest point we've had since
Speaker 1: the the Terrible Day when when Lebron went down and
Speaker 1: Shrewder got his COVID suspension for fourteen days. Um, that
Speaker 1: was probably the lowest we felt this season. This is
Speaker 1: kind of getting kind of close to that. Uh, try
Speaker 1: to keep some perspective. It's series tied at two, so
Speaker 1: I mean at the end of the day. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: not over by any stretch of the imagination. Um, but man,
Speaker 1: it's it's with how good this Phoenix Suns team is,
Speaker 1: which is what's something something that Roger and I talked
Speaker 1: about extensively. With as good as this Sun's team is,
Speaker 1: it's difficult to imagine, um, uh, beating them down to starters,
Speaker 1: especially when one of those starters is Anthony Davis, who,
Speaker 1: coming into the series we talked about was, you know,
Speaker 1: the key to the series. So it's definitely not a
Speaker 1: time to be super optimistic. But I think as Roger
Speaker 1: and I worked through some of this stuff today, we
Speaker 1: might be able to find some silver linings. Roger, who
Speaker 1: are you at right now after all of this. Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: like before every one of these spaces, I try to
Speaker 1: write down the things that go on in the game,
Speaker 1: and after a D went down, it was kind of
Speaker 1: like there's no point of really writing down tuning notes,
Speaker 1: like they were just trying to fight through that. Um
Speaker 1: eight is a guy that goes down a lot. You
Speaker 1: have a lot of lingering issues. So a lot of
Speaker 1: people playing doctor on the timeline saying he's going to be,
Speaker 1: you know, out for a long time. You never know,
Speaker 1: We just have to see. But you're right. This is
Speaker 1: a two two series. And I think I told you
Speaker 1: and I told any one who would listen, that the
Speaker 1: Suns are really good. They're really well coached. Um I
Speaker 1: didn't expect this to be a short series. I thought
Speaker 1: this would be a six at least a six gamer.
Speaker 1: It looks like that's what will be. They'll have one
Speaker 1: more game um in Phoenix and then a game back here.
Speaker 1: So I guess that's the silver lining with it. And
Speaker 1: there were good things to take from this game. UM.
Speaker 1: I thought Phoenix came out, they punched hard, the Lakers
Speaker 1: energy was non matched. They went up like eleven and
Speaker 1: then Lebron went out and all the all the things
Speaker 1: that they were doing well just went off the floor. Um.
Speaker 1: So that's the main thing here. And Chris Paul I
Speaker 1: thought had an amazing game. Um, he looked as healthy
Speaker 1: as he did this whole series. He looks back to
Speaker 1: where he was hitting jumpers right in the mid range.
Speaker 1: And that's how this game went. And now you have
Speaker 1: to at least hope that a D at least can
Speaker 1: give it a go in a game game five. So
Speaker 1: let's we'll talk about a D as we start to
Speaker 1: project forward to game five. But you know a couple
Speaker 1: of things. I thought the Lakers came out last days
Speaker 1: ago in the first half, I thought that they were
Speaker 1: the less urgent team, which is to be expected. Like
Speaker 1: kind of a general rule of fund with NBA playoff
Speaker 1: basketball is whoever won game the previous game is probably
Speaker 1: gonna play less hard than the team who who who
Speaker 1: lost the previous game. That's a general rule of thumb.
Speaker 1: It's not always the case, but it's generally the rule.
Speaker 1: And uh, and the Suns came out and kind of
Speaker 1: took it to him. There was some highlight plays from
Speaker 1: the Lakers, but for the most part, the Suns were
Speaker 1: better and more solid in the first half, and they
Speaker 1: take a four point lead. A D goes down grabs
Speaker 1: his growing. We'll talk about it after we talked about
Speaker 1: the game. But I thought that the Lakers came out
Speaker 1: of a halftime UM. I came out at halftime looking
Speaker 1: like a team that was a little bit shell shocked. UM.
Speaker 1: Particularly Lebron, I thought in that third quarter had absolutely
Speaker 1: no urgency. It was the exact opposite of the way
Speaker 1: he approached the third quarter in Game two. Um, you
Speaker 1: just just came out and floated through the third quarter,
Speaker 1: Which makes me think that Lebron was discouraged. Um, which
Speaker 1: is on an excuse. I just think that that that's
Speaker 1: what happened to the Lakers. I thought, as a unit,
Speaker 1: they looked discouraged and shell shocked by the a D injury,
Speaker 1: and I think they kind of blew an opportunity because
Speaker 1: from about the you know, four three or four minute
Speaker 1: mark of the third quarter through the end of the game,
Speaker 1: the Lakers actually kind of stepped up to Phoenix and
Speaker 1: showed some fight, and with exception of some big shots
Speaker 1: that Phoenix made at the end and a couple of
Speaker 1: huge mistakes, the Lakers actually played pretty well, but to
Speaker 1: start the third quarter they blew any opportunity of stealing
Speaker 1: that game by floating and pouting and and and showing
Speaker 1: kind of a lack of of of mental toughness as
Speaker 1: a result of the a D injury. So I thought
Speaker 1: that was kind of a blown opportunity. But if there's
Speaker 1: a silver lining, it's the fact that over that last
Speaker 1: fifteen sixteen minutes stretch they played better than Phoenix by
Speaker 1: some amounts and that means that you can go into
Speaker 1: Phoenix and win. Um. So I thought that was kind
Speaker 1: of like the weird dynamic in the second half as
Speaker 1: far as their belief went, if that makes sense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were kind of finding the refs a lot tonight.
Speaker 1: I thought Booker got a lot of like touch fouls
Speaker 1: early that really frustrated them. I think, um he had
Speaker 1: like eight early free throws um Lebron and I think
Speaker 1: three for the whole game for the majority of the game,
Speaker 1: And I think that that kind of really frustrated them.
Speaker 1: But they lost this game on open jumpers. Again, I
Speaker 1: thought like a lot of open jumpers didn't go down
Speaker 1: that have to go just to get those runs going,
Speaker 1: and when those miss it puts a lot of pressure,
Speaker 1: especially without a d being himself. He wasn't aggressive on
Speaker 1: Jake Crowder because obviously he wasn't feeling a percent and
Speaker 1: puts a lot of freshure on Lebron's score. I thought
Speaker 1: he came out in the third really just not aggressive
Speaker 1: on the Sun's pushed that lead. They were up four,
Speaker 1: They pushed into double digits really quickly, and then he
Speaker 1: tried to wait to go going. I thought he waited
Speaker 1: till the fourth, might have waited a little too long
Speaker 1: to get going, and that kind of um ended the game.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I looked they looked really frustrated tonight, and
Speaker 1: they looked like a team that knew they weren't getting
Speaker 1: their second superstar back. So that was a tough one.
Speaker 1: But I think I look, it's a two two series,
Speaker 1: so both teams are really good. This is I've said before.
Speaker 1: I think this is the two best teams in the
Speaker 1: West when they're healthy, and that's what it's looking like.
Speaker 1: These aren't easy games, These aren't easy series for either
Speaker 1: of them. It will be a long series and game
Speaker 1: by both teams will build to adjust. In the Lakers,
Speaker 1: I think will come out with a little bit more energy,
Speaker 1: a little bit more forced hopefully a little bit more
Speaker 1: intensity um than they did tonight and these twelve thirty
Speaker 1: games to man, it just I don't know, it looks
Speaker 1: very sluggish, a lot of turnovers early. It looked like
Speaker 1: they both teams waited until like after the first quarter
Speaker 1: to get going out. And did you see that as well, Um,
Speaker 1: these early starts seem to just have a have a
Speaker 1: really rough blow to start with them start these games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, well it compounds that thing I was just
Speaker 1: talking about as it pertains to the gap and the
Speaker 1: effort between the two teams. But again, like for what
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, I thought the Lakers had
Speaker 1: some moments there where they looked like the confident team
Speaker 1: that felt like they were gonna win. It's it really was.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm everyone everyone knows I'm a Lebron fan.
Speaker 1: I grew up with two USA on Arizona. I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily associated with any NBA franchise, but I'm a Lebron fan.
Speaker 1: But I'm I'm the kind of Lebron fan that's hard
Speaker 1: on Lebron because I actually do think he's one of
Speaker 1: the greatest basketball players ever, potentially the greatest player ever,
Speaker 1: and and I think that that means you get held
Speaker 1: to a certain standard. And I was really disappointed in
Speaker 1: the way in which he approached that second half because
Speaker 1: like again, let's say, let's say A d has mildly
Speaker 1: strained his groin and and it looks like he's not
Speaker 1: going to be able to play for a week. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're Lebron, you've gotta be looking at that like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we have to win tonight or today, because if we
Speaker 1: win today and we're up three games too, that buys
Speaker 1: this a margin of air to potentially close out this
Speaker 1: series quickly or three to one, I mean to potentially
Speaker 1: close out this series quickly and give Anthony Davis a
Speaker 1: chance to rest. And instead he went out discouraged and sloppy. UM,
Speaker 1: and I thought the rest of the team to followed suit.
Speaker 1: And you know, like from that standpoint, I thought it
Speaker 1: was it was a doesn't mean you know, Lebron won't
Speaker 1: have a chance to to redeem himself. I certainly think
Speaker 1: you will, and we're gonna talk some strategy stuff with
Speaker 1: that here in the second UM. But like I I
Speaker 1: was really disappointed in his lack of aggression and just
Speaker 1: the lack of focus. Like, like, Drummond had a really
Speaker 1: really bad game. It was one of the worst drumming
Speaker 1: games he's played in the in the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: I thought he was bad on the defensive end. He
Speaker 1: was he was getting psyched out and doing too much
Speaker 1: flopping and too much, too much extracurricular activity that was
Speaker 1: getting himself unfocused and away from the game. And I
Speaker 1: think that that kind of thing. Again, I'm not blaming
Speaker 1: Lebron for that, but I think that those types of things,
Speaker 1: like guys like Drummond that contend to get unfocused, I
Speaker 1: think those things can slip off the rails a little
Speaker 1: bit when your leaders not in it. And so I
Speaker 1: feel like Lebron does deserve some criticism for the way
Speaker 1: that that second half went off the rails. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: I mean is the leader he has to get going
Speaker 1: um But again, it just looked looked like the whole
Speaker 1: team was just not ready after they heard about a
Speaker 1: D and with Drummond. Like for Drummond, for me, like
Speaker 1: he he looks great when a D and Lebron are
Speaker 1: at the top of their game, right, That's where he
Speaker 1: can play his best, when he can use his physicality
Speaker 1: with a d n himself, he wasn't able to dominate
Speaker 1: the offensive remounds. Chris Paul started to get really aggressive,
Speaker 1: started to attack him on switches, Um hitting jumpers over him.
Speaker 1: I thought Devin Booker as well was a lot more aggressive.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but like going with Drum and like Marcusol
Speaker 1: was great though, I guess we can kind of move
Speaker 1: on to like on the stuff. I thought that was
Speaker 1: the real big positive here. Marcusol again looked like he
Speaker 1: should be on the floor. His defense I thought was
Speaker 1: fantastic in that second half, especially um really getting in,
Speaker 1: getting in stands, getting off screens, and then him shooting
Speaker 1: threes was huge got them back in the game. Um
Speaker 1: he was the only one that could hit three, it
Speaker 1: looks like. But just giving Lebron that space to work,
Speaker 1: especially without a d being himself, I think he needs
Speaker 1: to be in the lineup more. Did you see that
Speaker 1: as well from Marcus Saul today being the being the
Speaker 1: big factor? Yeah, Mark was Park was amazing and he
Speaker 1: needs to be someone they lean on more heavily in
Speaker 1: this particular three game series coming up. Because the number
Speaker 1: one takeaway I had from that game in terms of
Speaker 1: strategy in the second half was Eighton was a freaking beast,
Speaker 1: just an absolute animal on both ends of the floor
Speaker 1: and particularly on the defensive end. He really discouraged Lebron
Speaker 1: and Dennis Shrewder from getting to the basket. Like part
Speaker 1: of the reason why Lebron was a little bit passive
Speaker 1: and part of the reason why Schroeder missed all those
Speaker 1: layups was because of the fact that Eighton was parked
Speaker 1: underneath the basket the entire second half. And strategically, Vogel
Speaker 1: has to figure that out because what they can't keep
Speaker 1: doing is asking Lebron and Shrewder to cover for the
Speaker 1: absence of Anthony Davis and set them up for an
Speaker 1: extremely difficult process by letting Aton camp under the basket. Now,
Speaker 1: whether that's just a whole out to screen and roll
Speaker 1: with when Drummonds on the floor and then just begging
Speaker 1: like there were a couple of possessions that were marcusol
Speaker 1: Is like standing in the dunker spot, like what are
Speaker 1: you doing? What's the point having you? What's the point
Speaker 1: of having you out there? If you're going to do that,
Speaker 1: like at a at a certain point, like you've got
Speaker 1: to put like so we need let's say a D
Speaker 1: S is hurt, which we don't know. We need Lebron
Speaker 1: to go like straight up vintage two thousand eighteen Lebron
Speaker 1: in this next week in order for the Lakers to
Speaker 1: win this series. The only way that's happening is if
Speaker 1: they can get eight and out of the paint. That's
Speaker 1: the only way it's happening because right now, as you
Speaker 1: can tell, his jump shots just a little too inconsistent,
Speaker 1: probably because he's recently returned from injury. And even if
Speaker 1: it is like, he's just not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: make enough jump shots to to swing a series like
Speaker 1: this unless they can find a way to open up
Speaker 1: the driving lanes for Shrewder and Lebron so that they
Speaker 1: can get something going on that end. And so I
Speaker 1: think it'll be interesting to see what Frank does strategically
Speaker 1: to try to because I think when he looks at
Speaker 1: the tape, he's just gonna see Lebron and Shrewder driving
Speaker 1: into Eton, and uh, Shrewder was just thrown up wild
Speaker 1: scoop shots and missing them almost every time, and Lebron
Speaker 1: would get beat to the spot by eighton and would
Speaker 1: turn over his right shoulder and take that fade away,
Speaker 1: And I think he missed three. He missed three or
Speaker 1: four of those where he got where he got turned
Speaker 1: away at the rim, and that's because he beat Crowder
Speaker 1: and there's eighton just waiting for him underneath the basket.
Speaker 1: It was like the two thousand twelve Semis against Indiana
Speaker 1: all over again with with Roy Hibbert, like he just
Speaker 1: he's got to figure out a way to get get
Speaker 1: the center out of the wayne. Yeah. I think part
Speaker 1: of that. Our shooters have to start hitting their open
Speaker 1: shots too, right, So the Suns are absolutely packing the
Speaker 1: paint that daring our guys to make threes. Lebron was
Speaker 1: one for seven from three, but even the shots that
Speaker 1: he's creating a d was over three. But I mean
Speaker 1: that was in the That was the first half, Ty,
Speaker 1: who's my gain? One for five? Like they're just daring
Speaker 1: them to make threes, and if they're not hitting the three,
Speaker 1: they're gonna continue to just pack the paint on us
Speaker 1: and there's nothing really that they can do so and
Speaker 1: tell our guys say three, they're just gonna keep doing that.
Speaker 1: And like you brought up Dennis Shrewder, I had him
Speaker 1: in my notes. He's the next guy. I guess we
Speaker 1: can go to Um, he went, where do you go
Speaker 1: for to three? For thirteen? Like that's just not enough,
Speaker 1: Like he needs understand thirteen shots probably is good for him,
Speaker 1: but he needs to get into that mid range shot
Speaker 1: like rather than just going all the way to the
Speaker 1: rim or hitting threes. Um, he needs to be a
Speaker 1: little bit more aggressive. He can't have games like this,
Speaker 1: especially with a d um kind of out. He was
Speaker 1: a minus saved for the game tonight. Uh, And I
Speaker 1: think what three assists for Dennis Shrewder So, Like he's
Speaker 1: the one that has to pick up the offensive production here,
Speaker 1: especially in game five without Anthony Davis. He's the one
Speaker 1: that is demanding that contract as well. So like that's
Speaker 1: where the production has to come from. Like, if Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is out, we need offense. I think we had
Speaker 1: like what sixty points with three three minutes left in
Speaker 1: the third, Like, no matter how good your defense is,
Speaker 1: that's just not winning games. Um, this team already struggles
Speaker 1: to score. So he's the neck guy, Like what do
Speaker 1: you want to see from him? Um? In in game
Speaker 1: five again, So so that that that beginning that stretched
Speaker 1: there at the start of the third was where everything
Speaker 1: went off the rails. And and we and we talked
Speaker 1: earlier about how it had a lot to do with
Speaker 1: the uh, the bad body language and things along those lines.
Speaker 1: But you know, Drummond, we talked a lot in in
Speaker 1: in previous podcast about how Drummond he he's he's a
Speaker 1: classic trade off. You're trading spacing for his physicality on
Speaker 1: the offensive glass for his defensive activity and pick and
Speaker 1: roll where he can be good with his hands, and
Speaker 1: he's he does he does a good job of being
Speaker 1: up at the screen while at the same time recovering
Speaker 1: back and and bothering eight and around the basket. He
Speaker 1: brings all of those things. Um, but you do understand
Speaker 1: that there is the downside of that lack of spacing.
Speaker 1: And so in a game like tonight where or today,
Speaker 1: I should say, where he's a little bit unfocused on
Speaker 1: defense and he's flopping instead of playing good, strong, physical
Speaker 1: defense and and he's giving you anything on the offensive blast,
Speaker 1: it kind of the tradeoff kind of swings in a
Speaker 1: negative favor. And at that point, like with Shrewder, you've
Speaker 1: made a great point. He's he's right now, he's putting
Speaker 1: his head down and getting to the rim. He's not
Speaker 1: taking those midrange jump shots right now. And so at
Speaker 1: least I think he took two or three of them today,
Speaker 1: but I'm with you that that that number needs to
Speaker 1: be higher. But the question becomes like, at what point
Speaker 1: when Frank is looking at the film, does he look
Speaker 1: at this like, okay, without Anthony Davis, I need to
Speaker 1: get more out of Dennis. I need to get more
Speaker 1: out of Lebron. Lebron's jumper doesn't look great right now.
Speaker 1: You know, what what do I have to do to
Speaker 1: kind of create some space? And and I'm like, like
Speaker 1: I said earlier, I I'm interested to see what they
Speaker 1: come up with, and I'm hoping that it just involves
Speaker 1: a steady diet of when Drummonds on the floor, using
Speaker 1: him as a screener. So at least you're working against
Speaker 1: Eton while he's on the move rather than while he's
Speaker 1: loaded up and way eating for you at the basket.
Speaker 1: I just like their chances they're better. Lebron had a
Speaker 1: couple of layups in the second half where where when
Speaker 1: he got in pick and roll, he was meeting eighton
Speaker 1: you know, ten twelve feet from the basket and able
Speaker 1: to get his shoulder into him so that he could
Speaker 1: extend and make, you know, a left handed layup as
Speaker 1: opposed to in a traditional isolation set or anything like
Speaker 1: a screening action with West Matthews or whatever. He's doing
Speaker 1: to get past Crowder where Aton's waiting for him, and
Speaker 1: and he's not able to get that same advantage, you know,
Speaker 1: Lebron just he just got to get you on his
Speaker 1: hip and on his shoulders somehow so that he can finish.
Speaker 1: And the same thing goes with Shrewder, Like Shrewder needs
Speaker 1: to get you on his back hip so that he
Speaker 1: can extend out in front of him to make those
Speaker 1: little scoop layups, and when he's going into a shot blocker,
Speaker 1: it's not the same. So it'll just be it's a
Speaker 1: chess match here. And the chess match just got way
Speaker 1: more complicated because the Lakers lost their you know that
Speaker 1: they lost their queen, they lost their their want of
Speaker 1: arguably their most important piece. So they need to figure
Speaker 1: out a new strategy here, and I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: what they come up with. Yeah, I mean, even before
Speaker 1: the series, I think we both um when we talked
Speaker 1: about it was Anthony Davis was the huge matchup problem
Speaker 1: right in the series, Like Obviously they didn't have much
Speaker 1: for Lebron either, but we always thought that A d
Speaker 1: would be the killer for them. We destroyed them in
Speaker 1: the regular season, last regular season matchup, last two last
Speaker 1: two games, he had like what seventy points combined getting
Speaker 1: to the free throw line a lot, and that was
Speaker 1: a big part of their offense. Thirty free in the
Speaker 1: last two games. That's a huge, huge part of their points,
Speaker 1: especially when they're barely scoring over a hundred. So he
Speaker 1: was the big matchup for them. So without him, it's
Speaker 1: going to be really imperative that all the other guys
Speaker 1: I'm kind of get going. I guess my adjustment here
Speaker 1: would be just more marcusol. I think they tried Montrese
Speaker 1: Harold tonight. Um, I really don't like that against against
Speaker 1: Aid and Um, they play Kaminsky but commits. He doesn't
Speaker 1: play enough to me to where you can play Treads
Speaker 1: and kind of putting that matchup, and I think they'll
Speaker 1: fund him on ball screens. As bad as Drummond was tonight,
Speaker 1: I still think he's better than whatever Treads will do
Speaker 1: on on ball screen matchups. Right, His building kind of
Speaker 1: come up and get back to you in some sort
Speaker 1: of manner and be able to be able to contest
Speaker 1: those jumpers enough. I thought he contested him. Chris Paul
Speaker 1: still hits those. He's a generational midrang shooter. He's gonna
Speaker 1: hit those. But I thought Drummond was at least okay
Speaker 1: on those. But the thing that the adjustment for me
Speaker 1: is just playing more Marcosol and tried to Um have
Speaker 1: him space. He's the only guy hitting threes for us
Speaker 1: right now. I think he's shooting from three. He went
Speaker 1: three for five tonight, so I think he's shooting over
Speaker 1: from three in this series. I think he's the only
Speaker 1: person on the team doing that. We need his shooting
Speaker 1: need is facing and his passing. He found you see
Speaker 1: that past he got to Lebron while Um, I think
Speaker 1: he was being fronted by Jake Crowder late. Like those
Speaker 1: kind of players just don't open up without him. Get
Speaker 1: shooters and backputs, like, just get the offense kind of
Speaker 1: flowing more. I think it's tough to play Drummond when
Speaker 1: there's no a D as well. The point of playing
Speaker 1: Drummond there is to have a D and Lebron as
Speaker 1: those back line helpers right playing off ball, being able
Speaker 1: to create turnovers and we lose one of those. It's
Speaker 1: just really tough. I thought Lebron was Lebron really kind
Speaker 1: of took a bunch of defensive plays off tonight, like
Speaker 1: a lot of rebounds he just did there. Um. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you saw that as well, and I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: he was like pacing himself throughout the game, which is understandable.
Speaker 1: I thought he wanted to turn it on in the fourth.
Speaker 1: The lead was kind of too big, and I will
Speaker 1: see in game five, Um what happens with that. But
Speaker 1: I guess that's my adjustment from there. Um, what do
Speaker 1: you see from Do you see anything else from the
Speaker 1: defense that like you're worried about going into game five?
Speaker 1: Like with Phoenix, did they do anything tonight other than
Speaker 1: Chris Paul? I guess any more tough jumpers. I thought
Speaker 1: mckill bridges, it's huge, big timely shots. Did you do
Speaker 1: anything concerning going to game five? Um, even without Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis playing well? So first of all, like this is
Speaker 1: something that you and I talked about all year, the
Speaker 1: difference between the defensive floor and the defensive ceiling. Um,
Speaker 1: the Lakers without Anthony Davis have a good defensive floor.
Speaker 1: Because they play their ass off and all the guards
Speaker 1: play hard, and Frank Bogel is great with scheming, and
Speaker 1: and they do have enough depth at each position to
Speaker 1: keep a steady wave of defensive pressure coming. Okay, but
Speaker 1: we talked about how against the very best offenses that
Speaker 1: you needed Lebron in a D because they were the
Speaker 1: defensive ceiling. Because any truly elite offense, a truly elite
Speaker 1: offensive force like Chris Paul or Devin Booker is gonna
Speaker 1: find holes against even a fundamentally sound defense. And and
Speaker 1: so you know, like inevitably without Anthony Davis, that the
Speaker 1: whole geometry of the floor changes on the defensive end.
Speaker 1: You know, each each each each little crack just gets
Speaker 1: each little crack in the defense just gets a little
Speaker 1: bit wider, you know, one of the big ones I
Speaker 1: noticed in the second half that the Sun's did a
Speaker 1: really good job of as they would have Booker and
Speaker 1: Paul on opposite wings, or before Paul came back, to
Speaker 1: have Booker and Pain on opposite wings, and they would basically,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of start slowly dribbling up to that
Speaker 1: wing and you know, whether it was Crusoe or or
Speaker 1: or Schroder, they would start she shading heavily over so
Speaker 1: almost the top of the key in the health defense
Speaker 1: spot because they were giving up so many straight line
Speaker 1: drives to those guys, and then they would just throw
Speaker 1: a quick swing pass and all of a sudden, you've
Speaker 1: got Booker or Paul or Pain attacking in a close out,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, they've already got you on
Speaker 1: their hip and they're going into the basket. So they're
Speaker 1: they're like and again like they don't need to shade
Speaker 1: over as far if Anthony Davis is one of the
Speaker 1: guys on that back line that is rotating around, and
Speaker 1: so it's it's it's a problem, you know, Like I thought,
Speaker 1: like you know, we always talked about playoff series as
Speaker 1: a list of advantages. One team is more advantages than
Speaker 1: the other, and that usually over the course of a
Speaker 1: seven game series, those advantages will will show. You know,
Speaker 1: they might the other team might steal a game by
Speaker 1: by by playing off of their advantages. But if you've
Speaker 1: got significantly more advantages, like this Laker team does, you're
Speaker 1: just gonna inevitably win over the course of a seven
Speaker 1: game series. Well several advantages. Anthony Davis on the offensive end,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis on the defensive ent got taken off.
Speaker 1: You think about k c P. We don't know if
Speaker 1: he's going to be a go on Tuesday. So all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's like a lot more level playing field.
Speaker 1: And so now it's really going to be about the
Speaker 1: little tiny details that are gonna end up swinging these
Speaker 1: next three games. Like you know, Lebron didn't have to
Speaker 1: be a consistent jump shooter to win this series when
Speaker 1: everyone else was playing well and was healthy. But Lebron
Speaker 1: is gonna literally have to shoot the ball really well
Speaker 1: in this next three game stretch or if a d
Speaker 1: s out or the Lakers won't win. That's a little detail.
Speaker 1: That's a huge difference. It's gonna have to be really
Speaker 1: smart strategy from Frank, It's gonna have to be role
Speaker 1: players making shots. All of it's gonna have to come
Speaker 1: together at this point under the circumstances. That's just kind
Speaker 1: of the way that the math of the series changed.
Speaker 1: And like I said, what was unfortunate about today. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you guys felt this way, but I
Speaker 1: felt like the first half was kind of a continuation
Speaker 1: of of the Game three's fourth quarter, a little bit,
Speaker 1: show Body, a little bit loose, a little bit, We've
Speaker 1: got these guys already, and and they went into halftime
Speaker 1: down four, and then the A. D News comes out
Speaker 1: there shell shocked. They waste seven eight minutes of game clock,
Speaker 1: and then they finally kind of snapped to a fight mode,
Speaker 1: but it's too late. Like you look at it and
Speaker 1: you think, oh, Chris Paul sitting shot. Stephan book are
Speaker 1: sitting shots and Kale Bridges sitting shots, but really those
Speaker 1: shots are just stemming the tide of what was a
Speaker 1: Laker run. They were playing well, but they wasted their
Speaker 1: opportunity by by sloppy in the first half in Show Body,
Speaker 1: and then by being shell shocked there to start the third.
Speaker 1: So now it's like this clean slates two games to two.
Speaker 1: Two of the games are gonna be in Phoenix. All
Speaker 1: of these little details become so much more important, and
Speaker 1: it's gonna be it's gonna be really interesting. And Frank
Speaker 1: Scott's work cut out for him, Like I keep saying, um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be interesting. What kind of adjustment teammates? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and just looking at like the forest through the trees
Speaker 1: or however that saying goes like, you still held Phoenix
Speaker 1: to a hundred points, And we talked about it before, like,
Speaker 1: I don't think they mind DeAndre and going off. If
Speaker 1: you can hold off Chris Paul, Devon Booker, and Chris
Speaker 1: Paul went eighteen points tonight Devon Booker seventeen, you hold
Speaker 1: those due to like thirty five combined thirty six over
Speaker 1: that math goes on, Um, I think you've kind of
Speaker 1: done your job there, um, right, so you hold them
Speaker 1: to that low scoring eight and gets goes six for eight.
Speaker 1: He's been going eight for twelve or lines like that,
Speaker 1: and they've still been held to a hundred points. So
Speaker 1: I think their game plan still was there. It's just
Speaker 1: they did not score enough. Tonight Phoenix against Phoenix shot
Speaker 1: from three again, they shot low from three. I don't
Speaker 1: think those are coincidence that they shot low from three
Speaker 1: for like three straight games. Um. I think that's part
Speaker 1: of the game plan. Fly them up three point line.
Speaker 1: So I think their defense still kind of held up
Speaker 1: in like a larger some point, but they just did
Speaker 1: not score enough. They did not hit enough open threes.
Speaker 1: They shot forty three shot like thirty two percent. If
Speaker 1: you just hit a couple more of those. This game
Speaker 1: is a little closer. I think that's the key here.
Speaker 1: And now, like we're going into small and smaller sample size,
Speaker 1: like I know I've been I keep tweeting you have
Speaker 1: to take these open ones. They'll go and eventually, but
Speaker 1: like the sample that we're getting is getting smaller and smaller.
Speaker 1: I guess that's like this, that's like the silver lining
Speaker 1: to kind of look at you played, what four games?
Speaker 1: You defended well on all four of them, Like you
Speaker 1: defended well enough to where if you scored just at
Speaker 1: an average amount, you win these games. Like you hold
Speaker 1: the phoenix is the top offense, Like you held them
Speaker 1: again to a hundred points. They were completely healthy tonight.
Speaker 1: Chris Paul even said he's back, so he's healthy. It
Speaker 1: looks like so you held them to a hundred and
Speaker 1: I think they'll live with that. Chris Paul seven for fifteen, Um,
Speaker 1: you know you put them to the line only four times.
Speaker 1: I think you live with that. Devin Booker one to
Speaker 1: five from three. You make him take all these mid
Speaker 1: range jumpers. He did get to the line seven times.
Speaker 1: A lot of that was in the first half. Like
Speaker 1: those are things you can take in the game. Five.
Speaker 1: Those are things you can do. Eight being out really hurts,
Speaker 1: but those are things you can still kind of due
Speaker 1: to even a lesser extent with eight with a drummond
Speaker 1: and gasol. That's the things that I would take from this. UM.
Speaker 1: I think they'll go into game five expecting eighty not
Speaker 1: to play, and that's how you have to go into it.
Speaker 1: And Lebron being a little bit more aggressive and man
Speaker 1: if our shooters can just hit a couple more open
Speaker 1: open looks. Cru So I think got a couple ago tonight.
Speaker 1: Who's might think I wanted to go just just the
Speaker 1: open ones. Man, that's all we're asking that they're creating
Speaker 1: open looks. The phoenix is living, dying in the paint,
Speaker 1: just just living with these shots. So that's what I'll
Speaker 1: take from this um. And look, it's a loss, but
Speaker 1: it's too too like this is how good teams go,
Speaker 1: Good conference finals teams go, like this is not a
Speaker 1: first round matchup to me, um, I I keep saying it.
Speaker 1: These are the two best teams in the West. These
Speaker 1: are extremely well coached, Chris Paul is a superstar. On
Speaker 1: the other side, like, these aren't gonna it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be easy series. Man, I never thought it was so
Speaker 1: um six gamer, seven gamer. It is what it is.
Speaker 1: But I just think that's how these go. In game five,
Speaker 1: they'll we have to be ready and I think they will. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, the series that I would compare this to
Speaker 1: in Lebron's career um as of late, would be the
Speaker 1: game in the series against Indiana in the first round
Speaker 1: of two eight team. It's not a straight up comparison
Speaker 1: in terms of the identities of the teams and the
Speaker 1: stars involved in blah blah blah um. But I still
Speaker 1: think even with Lebron in his somewhat limited state, which
Speaker 1: by the way, he looked better physically today, I don't
Speaker 1: think you can blame Lebron's ankle for his behavior in
Speaker 1: that second half in my opinion. I know I said
Speaker 1: behavior that's a poor choice of words, but just his
Speaker 1: his passivity in the in the second half I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought, what mostly had to do with his him
Speaker 1: being a little bit mentally psyched out by the e
Speaker 1: D injury and and then the lack of spaceing um.
Speaker 1: But that said, like, he's still the best player in
Speaker 1: this series. And if you remember, in the Indiana series,
Speaker 1: Indiana was up two games to one, and they were
Speaker 1: going on a run in the fourth quarter, uh in Indie,
Speaker 1: about to go up three one in the series, and
Speaker 1: Kyle Corver hit a couple of shots and and it
Speaker 1: just completely changed the psychology. All of a sudden, the
Speaker 1: Calves had like a two point lead with like three
Speaker 1: minutes left, and Lebron just took over. He had like
Speaker 1: a driving layoup where he scored on Miles Turner and
Speaker 1: then he had another, uh driving spin move on boy
Speaker 1: on Bogdanovitch where he scored. He just sucked the pace
Speaker 1: out of the game and and just and just slowed
Speaker 1: things down and just made the plays, and he won
Speaker 1: the game. And then it swung the series back in
Speaker 1: Cleveland's favor, and then they won their two home games
Speaker 1: and ended up winning. And that's kind of the way
Speaker 1: I see this, this game, this game five here in Phoenix,
Speaker 1: Like this game, the Lakers are not going to go
Speaker 1: in there and manhandle him. That's not gonna happen. Even
Speaker 1: if a d plays, He's gonna be some limited version
Speaker 1: of himself. So what's gonna end up happening is that
Speaker 1: game is gonna be close, and Lebron's gonna have a
Speaker 1: run in him somewhere, and somebody's gotta make some shots.
Speaker 1: Somebody's gotta make some plays somewhere down the roster to
Speaker 1: give that little bit of a boost, just like Kyle
Speaker 1: Korver did for that calvs team, just to kind of
Speaker 1: put it to a Ray Tames where Lebron can can
Speaker 1: close the deal. That's kind of the way I see
Speaker 1: game five. And you know, fortunately with this Laker team,
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of candidates for that role. There are
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys who are capable of that, and
Speaker 1: a lot of guys. The Lakers made thirteen threes today.
Speaker 1: I think they took forties, so wasn't a great percentage necessarily,
Speaker 1: but some guys got to see some shots go through
Speaker 1: the rim. Crusoe made some shots after he didn't make
Speaker 1: any in the previous two. You know, West made some
Speaker 1: shots again, Mark made some shots. Um Kuzma was his
Speaker 1: jumper still off, but he's getting into the paint and
Speaker 1: starting to make some of those little like running floaters
Speaker 1: that he likes to make. There's something there they that
Speaker 1: group just needs to kind of, you know, Galvin, I's
Speaker 1: come together and and just get through this game. Because
Speaker 1: if you can go home for the Lakers in Game six.
Speaker 1: They're they're gonna attack that game from the start in
Speaker 1: a way they didn't today, And I like their chances.
Speaker 1: And if you can close this series in six while
Speaker 1: Denver in Portland are beating the hell out of each other,
Speaker 1: do you have a better chance to get a d
Speaker 1: back to something resembling himself. So I think I think
Speaker 1: this Game five it's gonna be a really a really
Speaker 1: really uh pivotal moment for this season. Yeah. One of
Speaker 1: the last things that kind of wrote down here was
Speaker 1: like no KCP tonight, which obviously he's not as big
Speaker 1: as missing Anthony Davis, but I thought they still kind
Speaker 1: of missed his speed is athleticism in transition. Um, he's
Speaker 1: not shooting well in this series, but he would have
Speaker 1: been nice to have one more shooter out there right
Speaker 1: just trying to get some open looks. Um. I thought
Speaker 1: Wes Matthews was good on Booker, but he's a little
Speaker 1: bit more physical. I thought Devin Booker kind of used
Speaker 1: his physicality against him to draw a couple of those
Speaker 1: cheap vouls. KCP does a really nice job of top
Speaker 1: locking and uh putting back pressure on him at a
Speaker 1: point where he doesn't really get get called for those,
Speaker 1: So I thought he was a guy that they really
Speaker 1: missed as well. And hopefully, um he can go, he
Speaker 1: can play in Game five. And also I just wanted
Speaker 1: to give you a chance. Ben McLamore got met his
Speaker 1: with Lebron tonight. Um, I thought Vogel again was looking
Speaker 1: for shooting. Ben hit his first three and then decided
Speaker 1: to hit a fade away three pointer as well um
Speaker 1: his second shot. So it was cool to see him
Speaker 1: get minutes and look that they need shooting man and
Speaker 1: game I thought Bend kind of hurt them on defense.
Speaker 1: His off all defense was still kind of lack of
Speaker 1: days ago to me, Um, the whole team wasn't locked in,
Speaker 1: but still like he kind of lost his man a
Speaker 1: few times. But they're gonna need shooting man. They're gonna
Speaker 1: need anyone who can help in Game five to just
Speaker 1: to give offensive production. Like I said before, sixty points
Speaker 1: and like the end of the third quarter is just
Speaker 1: not enough offense to be any team. I don't care
Speaker 1: if you have the best defensive league, it's just not enough.
Speaker 1: So those are things they'll have to go. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure Bogo and everybody else will look at the film
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, and hopefully eighty can go. Eighty
Speaker 1: is a guy we talked about it like he falls
Speaker 1: almost every game. He gives us heart attacks like two
Speaker 1: or three times every night. And maybe this is just
Speaker 1: another one, another like lingering um to hope this is
Speaker 1: separate from the one that he was questionable, right, So
Speaker 1: he was questionable with a knee contusion I believe before
Speaker 1: the game, and this was now growing strain. So these
Speaker 1: are two separate issues. Hopefully these are both of minor
Speaker 1: issues that they find and hopefully you can go in
Speaker 1: game five. But yeah, did you have anything else, um
Speaker 1: from tonight, from this game or looking ahead to to
Speaker 1: game five? You can go ahead and start bringing up
Speaker 1: the first guest, I mean, the last thing I was
Speaker 1: gonna say. Everybody gets your request, and I will take
Speaker 1: at least four or five collars. Um. Uh my, my
Speaker 1: impression of the a D injury. The one thing that
Speaker 1: made me nervous was in immediately grabbing at it, Um,
Speaker 1: and then also the fact that he had some growing
Speaker 1: tightness you know a few weeks back, Um did the
Speaker 1: thing that makes it sketchy is like that, like he said,
Speaker 1: you know to to Chris Haynes, like I'm I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give it a go, um, like no matter what.
Speaker 1: And so you could tell a d S mentality is
Speaker 1: like I'm playing. And so him not playing in a
Speaker 1: game that they trailed by four, I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know if there was a psychology, you know, amongst the
Speaker 1: team where they felt like they could win without him
Speaker 1: or what. But and then again, that attitude from the
Speaker 1: team coming out of halftime him was a little bit
Speaker 1: you know, sunken and and and just like like they
Speaker 1: all just looked like they lost their belief, which I
Speaker 1: haven't really seen them play without belief like that since
Speaker 1: that Clippers game a few weeks back when Lebron was
Speaker 1: out and uh, and the Clippers just punched him in
Speaker 1: the mouth to start the game. Um, So it's definitely
Speaker 1: it's definitely concerning. But if you if you can somehow
Speaker 1: win this series without him, you know, there's a chance
Speaker 1: that you can give him seven to ten, you know,
Speaker 1: seven days off at least here. So I would I
Speaker 1: would hope that that they see the opportunity. Uh, if
Speaker 1: he's not playing, I hope they see the opportunity too,
Speaker 1: that they're still, in my opinion, even without a D,
Speaker 1: the Lakers are still capable of winning this series. I
Speaker 1: really do believe that. And even tonight it was a
Speaker 1: seven point game, Marcusol had to turn over in the
Speaker 1: backcourt and Dennis Shrewder missed the point point blank layout
Speaker 1: with like two and a half minutes left. Um, that's
Speaker 1: not to say they would have won, but the point
Speaker 1: is is like from that, you know, two thirds of
Speaker 1: the way through the third quarter, the Lakers put their
Speaker 1: foot on the gas and when they really engaged defensively,
Speaker 1: the Suns were sloppy. They rushed things because they're a
Speaker 1: young team. With Chris Paul on the floor, he was
Speaker 1: able to make some tough shots, but he wasn't There
Speaker 1: was also something that he missed because they defended him
Speaker 1: really well. So I still think they're capable of getting
Speaker 1: enough stops and making enough shots to win this series
Speaker 1: without a D. But yeah, let's get somebody on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, Let's see if if I can get Evan
Speaker 1: on here. It's connecting. Yeah, they're gonna have to try
Speaker 1: to win without him, But I don't know, I feel
Speaker 1: like they just saw a half time that he wasn't
Speaker 1: ready to go. It looked like he limped off really hurting. There.
Speaker 1: It looks like Evan's connecting. And see if I can
Speaker 1: get appreciate everyone's staying with us here on uh on
Speaker 1: a Sunday afternoon with a bunch of more basketball. I
Speaker 1: think coming this this day, h yo, j are you there?
Speaker 1: Can you hear essay? Yeah? I think you're muted? My guy?
Speaker 1: Okays it's also muted, and Evans is still connecting. Got
Speaker 1: anybody else mhm? Thinking most people are kind of down
Speaker 1: after this loss. I don't have that many requests here. Well,
Speaker 1: if you don't have anybody, we can call it. Um.
Speaker 1: We take a lot of callers in the other games.
Speaker 1: Everybody must be enjoying their Sunday. I thought you came up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it looks like and it's not connecting. I'll give the
Speaker 1: last shot. Last shot anyone wants to come up. But now,
Speaker 1: well we'll call this one. Let's see. It looks like
Speaker 1: that's all we have here. All those guys kind of left,
Speaker 1: all right, everybody, Thank you guys so much for coming
Speaker 1: hang out with us. I'm sorry that Roger and I
Speaker 1: didn't have something more cheery to talk about. Hopefully we
Speaker 1: will on Tuesday night. As far as I know, UM,
Speaker 1: I should be able to do Tuesday night for sure,
Speaker 1: and then maybe on Thursday. I'm going to a Ruba
Speaker 1: on Thursday on an overnight flight, but it doesn't leave
Speaker 1: until eleven thirties, so even if it's just for like
Speaker 1: twenty or thirty minutes, I'm hoping that I'll be able
Speaker 1: to get get that one in with you guys. But
Speaker 1: I think this game on Tuesday is going to be
Speaker 1: extremely entertaining, extremely kind of like coin flip type of game,
Speaker 1: and I'm very excited and I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: And I think you guys coming to hit for, come
Speaker 1: to hang out with us, and we will talk to
Speaker 1: you right after that game. Appreciate everyone, Thank you every bye,