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Speaker 1: M m all right, welcome to the Saint of the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: Is that if my Dad's radio. Happy Sunday, everybody. I

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Speaker 1: hope you all had a great week. I hope you

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Speaker 1: enjoyed your weekend. Um. I hope you had something to

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Speaker 1: enjoy this week other than that awful stretch of Lakers

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Speaker 1: basketball which included you know, everything but the wind raj,

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Speaker 1: which has been pretty much the story of this week.

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Speaker 1: I think. But how are you doing? Man? I'm doing well.

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Speaker 1: Beautiful weekend, great weather here in Cali, had a nice

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Speaker 1: when you like, little event last night, and wake up,

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Speaker 1: wake up real early to watch this game. Yeah. It

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Speaker 1: was a you know, a fun one for like three quarters, right,

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Speaker 1: I think like for the first three quarters they did

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Speaker 1: their job up tending going in the fourth and then

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Speaker 1: kind of just collapsed at the end there. I lost

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Speaker 1: the fourth I think by eighteen, so kind of like

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Speaker 1: a meltdown in the fourth. But I gonnall man, how

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Speaker 1: are you? I'm doing great? Um? You know. It's one

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Speaker 1: of those things where, like I think the announcers on

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Speaker 1: the spectrum feed did a good job of pointing this out.

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Speaker 1: It felt like one of those games where the first

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Speaker 1: team to really attempt to try to play defense would

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Speaker 1: end up winning. And you know, it ended up being

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Speaker 1: the Lakers, ironically, who who were the first ones to

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Speaker 1: try to at least take some control over the game

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Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the ball. And then they

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Speaker 1: completely and utterly fell apart in that fourth quarter. Rise

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Speaker 1: by my count, they took twelve They missed twelve jump

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Speaker 1: shots in that fourth quarter, and attempted only four shots

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Speaker 1: at the rim, which is really bad process for Russell

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Speaker 1: Westbrook Anthony Davis team. Now we could talk about why

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Speaker 1: in a second, because there were some line up things

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Speaker 1: there that I thought were interesting. And then on the

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Speaker 1: other end of the floor to give up thirty eight,

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Speaker 1: to offer almost no resistance, especially around the rim. Um.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna butcher his name, but that bad cup center

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Speaker 1: that they had that played uh okay, I can't remember

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Speaker 1: what his name was, but yeah, yeah, so he absolutely

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Speaker 1: torched us. It was just it was one of those

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Speaker 1: things where again you're looking at the game and you're saying, man,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis looks great. That's great news. Russell Westbrook, who

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Speaker 1: I've been incredibly critical of, is starting to show some

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Speaker 1: signs of life. Even though I got a couple of

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Speaker 1: bones to pick with him at the end of the game,

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Speaker 1: and the leak month looks incredible again, although he's been

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Speaker 1: showing some inconsistency in recent weeks. But you've got all

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Speaker 1: of this good baked in there, and they just can't

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Speaker 1: win a game, Raj. And it's one of those things,

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Speaker 1: you know, I I think, um, I can't remember exactly

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Speaker 1: who it was who said this on Twitter, but someone

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Speaker 1: was saying, like, hey, no more moral victories. Were out

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Speaker 1: of time for moral victories. And that's the truth, guys.

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Speaker 1: When you look at the standings and you look at

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Speaker 1: the situation at twenty four and twenty seven, this deep

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Speaker 1: into the play in the way that we are. There's

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Speaker 1: some real urgency here. We can't afford to keep having

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Speaker 1: these nights where it's like, hey, we looked good, but

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Speaker 1: I didn't get the win, or hey, so and so

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Speaker 1: looks good, but we didn't get to win. And even

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Speaker 1: without Lebron, this was another game that we should have won.

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Speaker 1: I thought the Philly game was winnable too. I thought

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Speaker 1: the Charlotte game was winnable. This is it's looking pretty

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Speaker 1: bleak right now. Roger. I'm not gonna be entirely bleak.

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Speaker 1: But man like, at a certain point some of these

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Speaker 1: have to turn into wins instead of losses. Yeah, for sure,

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Speaker 1: in the season definitely obviously depends on when Lebron gets back.

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Speaker 1: We're definitely running out of time. Um and we kind

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Speaker 1: of you know, Lebron and E D Sat the last one.

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Speaker 1: Who knows, you know how serious those where. We'll see

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Speaker 1: if Lebron can come back here soon. Hopefully the knee

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Speaker 1: knee soreness isn't too serious. But yeah, like we're running

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Speaker 1: out of time here. I think there's like twenty eight

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Speaker 1: games left. But tonight, man, just sticking on tonight, you

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Speaker 1: get third, you get eighty points combined from A D,

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Speaker 1: Russ and Leak Monk. You should be able to win

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Speaker 1: that game, right, Like, it doesn't matter what happened. Leak

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Speaker 1: Monk was able to kind of fill the Lebron production.

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Speaker 1: You get like thirty three or third four from league Monk.

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Speaker 1: A D had a really nice first half again. Russell

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Speaker 1: Westbrook starting to finish at the rim. I think like

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Speaker 1: seventy five or seventy at the rim in the last

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Speaker 1: six games. Um, and he was I thought he had

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Speaker 1: a really nice floor game tonight to me though, like

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Speaker 1: the issue was, you know, I feel like there's a

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Speaker 1: breaking point when you start as small as we do. Um,

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Speaker 1: we started Rusts, Malik Monk and Avery Bradley, and you

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Speaker 1: know it gets hidden because we were scoring at such

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Speaker 1: a high level. But I thought the fact that those

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Speaker 1: three started, John Collins just got whatever he wanted right

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Speaker 1: and again that kind of gets hidden. Um. DeAndre Hunter,

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Speaker 1: I thought, just got to wherever he wanted in the

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Speaker 1: mid range. And there's a breaking point to that. Trey

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Speaker 1: Young wasn't going to be one for seven from three

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Speaker 1: from the whole game. I think that's what he started.

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Speaker 1: He ended up hitting for in the last minute there.

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Speaker 1: And you know Atlantis the team that has a lot

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Speaker 1: of firepower. Um, they're not too complicated. It's high ball

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Speaker 1: screen with Trey Young, it's him picking us, picking players apart.

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Speaker 1: I thought we really broke down there. He got a

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Speaker 1: lot of lobs to on Yetta, as you talked about,

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Speaker 1: and he was able to take step back threes. I

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Speaker 1: thought he cooked Avery Bradley tonight, like there's a little

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Speaker 1: bit too too much, a little bit too much every Bradley, Um,

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Speaker 1: I kept t eating that's enough, Avery Bradley. I thought

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Speaker 1: there was like I thought, you know, he's just too

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Speaker 1: small to kind of contend with him. He was also

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Speaker 1: physical with him for no reason. There was a screen

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Speaker 1: coming anyway we were, Vogel said after the game, I

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Speaker 1: was listening that the plan was to soft trap him. Well,

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Speaker 1: then what's the point you know of like fouling him

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Speaker 1: at half court or you know, every Radley was super

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Speaker 1: ball pressuring him. And while we were in the bonus too,

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Speaker 1: I thought just that wasn't smart. But what did you

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Speaker 1: agree with that? Because I thought that was the breaking

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Speaker 1: point here. We were scoring so much that it was

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Speaker 1: kind of hidden. But I thought, you know, you started

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Speaker 1: three small guards. Um Atlanta was able to get switches

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Speaker 1: where they wanted. John Collins was able to keep the

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Speaker 1: Hawks really in it until Trey Young uh exploded there

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. When you start, you know, two

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Speaker 1: small guards like that, um leak monk and you know

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Speaker 1: every Monk was great offensively, but again gets picked on

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Speaker 1: offensive defensively. Avery Bradley again I thought, was awful on

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Speaker 1: both ends. I let alone what he's supposed to be

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Speaker 1: good defensively? You have all these Carmelo Carmelo Anthony minutes

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Speaker 1: as well, he's slow on the defensive and all that

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Speaker 1: combined to me, Atlanta scores one twenty nine. You you

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Speaker 1: score one twenty one points, you win most games in

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Speaker 1: the NBA. We just couldn't defend even with a d

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Speaker 1: out there, just cannot defend them. Well, yeah, dude, you

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Speaker 1: saw it in the closing group. You're looking at like

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Speaker 1: Malik Monk has to have a game like he did

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Speaker 1: tonight offensively to be a positive player, because he's pretty

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Speaker 1: quickly become one of the worst defensive players that we

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Speaker 1: have on the roster. He gives up, you know, a

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Speaker 1: lot in in conjunction with what he brings offensively, and

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Speaker 1: so he he literally has to go for thirty three

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Speaker 1: in order for that to be a worthwhile exchange. And

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Speaker 1: then you look at Avery Bradley, and he does a

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Speaker 1: pretty good job when he's on the ball, applying ball

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Speaker 1: pressure when he's not committing fouls, but then as soon

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Speaker 1: as he gets involved in anything off the ball, he

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Speaker 1: struggles all the tonight or all day today, I should

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Speaker 1: say all morning, because this was an eleven am start

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Speaker 1: here in Tucson. All morning, Avery Bradley when he would

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Speaker 1: get disengaged from the ball would get lost floating around

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Speaker 1: on the perimeter. And then Russell Westbrook again like he

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Speaker 1: brings good defensively, but he just has these little lapses.

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Speaker 1: It tie game bad clothes out on DeAndre Hunter and

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Speaker 1: ends up committing a foul. It's like, dude, you're Russell

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Speaker 1: freaking Westbrook. You have to be able to keep DeAndre

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Speaker 1: Hunter in front of you. That's not that especially in

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Speaker 1: a pivotal moment like that. And so when you have

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Speaker 1: three guys on the floor, those three together on the

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Speaker 1: floor at the same time brings so many limitations offense

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Speaker 1: or defensively that it's really difficult for that to work.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I had in my notes raj

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Speaker 1: anytime Stanley Johnson and Anthony Davis were involved in an

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Speaker 1: action defensively, they are devastating to it was it was

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Speaker 1: anything else where we were getting burned. And one of

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Speaker 1: the things that I thought the Hawks did a really

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Speaker 1: good job of in this game was using off ball

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Speaker 1: actions to get Anthony Davis away from the basket. And

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Speaker 1: they did this a lot. By again, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: butcher his name, so that that backup center that they had,

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Speaker 1: they put him on the floor and use him uh

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Speaker 1: and put John Collins on the perimeter, essentially dragging Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis away from the basket and putting Stanley Johnson in

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Speaker 1: the awkward position where he's, you know, trying to defend

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Speaker 1: the rim. And he does a pretty good job. But

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Speaker 1: one of the things that drives me nuts with Frank

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Speaker 1: is he uses Stanley as like a drop coverage big

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Speaker 1: sometimes instead of switching those screens, and so then he

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Speaker 1: ends up having to do that no roller behind coverage

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Speaker 1: where they can just Trey Young is so gifted at

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Speaker 1: just placing that log pass like high above where Stanley

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Speaker 1: can get it, but where his teammate can grab it

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Speaker 1: and just catch it and take a power dribble and

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Speaker 1: go up and finish. And at the end of the

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Speaker 1: game on the other end of the floor. This is

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Speaker 1: where it gets tricky. Avery Bradley, like he shot the

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Speaker 1: ball well this year, but teams don't guard him. This

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Speaker 1: is something you talk about all the time, Rogs. There's

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Speaker 1: like a difference between a good shooter that gets started,

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Speaker 1: Like there's a difference between what you actually shoot in

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Speaker 1: terms of your percentages and what defenses do. For instance,

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Speaker 1: Avery Bradley knocking down shot this year, teams don't guard en.

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Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma in the past shot terrible percentages with the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: but teams guarded him. It's all about like perception instead

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Speaker 1: of reality around the league, and the perception with Avery

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Speaker 1: Bradley is you can leave him open. Stanley Johnson, same thing.

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Speaker 1: You actually ended up making a huge three towards the

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Speaker 1: end of the game, but they're not guarding him, and

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Speaker 1: then they're also not guarding Russ so you find yourself

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Speaker 1: in this awkward position. We're basically it turned into a

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Speaker 1: jump shooting contest except for the guys shooting jump shots

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Speaker 1: for us. For Anthony Davis, who's good, you know, has

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Speaker 1: been shooting the ball well this week, but overall is

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Speaker 1: an inconsistent jump shooter. And Malik Monk, you know, and

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Speaker 1: guess what, Trey Young made more threes, you know, just

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Speaker 1: like like in a shooting contest, the better shooter is

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Speaker 1: gonna win. And when when they had an opportunity towards

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Speaker 1: the end of the game to make shots, the Hawks

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Speaker 1: did and we didn't. And like I said, you missed

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Speaker 1: twelve jump shots, but you only attempt four shots at

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Speaker 1: the rim. I don't like our chances there We're just

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Speaker 1: not a very good jump shooting team, especially off the dribble,

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Speaker 1: and so I it was it was frustrating Rod because

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Speaker 1: there was some good process there, like Russ was getting

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Speaker 1: into the paint, Anthony Davis was having success bullying guys

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Speaker 1: on the on the offensive glass he was doing he

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Speaker 1: was making aggressive moves to the rim, and then we

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Speaker 1: got to the fourth quarter and it just turned into

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Speaker 1: let's dribble the ball around on the perimeter until we

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Speaker 1: take a pull up jump shot, which again it's attached

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Speaker 1: to the fact that you have too too little shooting

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Speaker 1: on the floor. And to your point, it would be

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Speaker 1: one thing if we were huge and athletic at every

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Speaker 1: position and we can make up for it with switchability

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Speaker 1: on defense and ball pressure and rebounding and all those

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Speaker 1: things that come with size and athleticism. But no, we

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Speaker 1: are a jump shooting team that placed three little guards

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Speaker 1: and we're just getting killed on the defensive end of

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Speaker 1: the floor. So it was it was definitely frustrating for

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Speaker 1: me to watch, uh, you know, because I just felt

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Speaker 1: like that I felt like it was a winnable game

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Speaker 1: ras and not sure it wasn't winnable. We played well

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Speaker 1: enough to win through basically three quarters and then it

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Speaker 1: was an absolute disaster class in that fourth. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: you know we had that people call it a fake

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Speaker 1: come back whatever it was, to come back against the Hornets, right,

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Speaker 1: We didn't get to talk about that one, but I thought,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's what we kind of built on here.

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Speaker 1: Russ continue to get to the rim tonight like that stuff.

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Speaker 1: That's good process. That's where you miss Lebron the most. Alright,

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Speaker 1: late camp stuff, game slows down. We kind of just

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Speaker 1: went to straight up a D post ups. Um. I

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Speaker 1: thought he looked a little tired as well. At the end.

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Speaker 1: He couldn't just get to the basket. They started zoning

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Speaker 1: up on him as well. And that's where you see

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Speaker 1: the effect of the Russell Westbrook gravity kind of taking

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Speaker 1: taking apart. Right when you don't have Lebron on the floor,

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Speaker 1: it's Russell Westbrook at the top. It's straight a D

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Speaker 1: post ups. You're relying on Leak Monk, who was incredible

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Speaker 1: that whole night. But you know it was pretty much

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Speaker 1: on three pointers. So basically he's trying to get a

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Speaker 1: three up. He's still under size. The Hawks can kind

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Speaker 1: of switch actions on him. You get a D posting

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Speaker 1: up trying to get shots. He's taking mid range pull ups.

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Speaker 1: That all kind of collapsed. I think we scored eighteen

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Speaker 1: points in the fourth. We had like five points Jason,

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Speaker 1: with like half the fourth gone. I think, uh we

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Speaker 1: were you know, we were up eleven and you know

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Speaker 1: that lineup to start the fourth. I really didn't. I

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Speaker 1: thought we stayed with that too long. The Carmelo Dwight Howard,

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Speaker 1: you know, Front Core has been just a real rough

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Speaker 1: watch recently. I just Dwight's not the same. He's not

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Speaker 1: as active, doesn't jump as much. Yeah, his his feet

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Speaker 1: look like they're stuck on the floor. It's just there's

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Speaker 1: a there's not a bounce to him that there was.

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Speaker 1: His coverage is his drop coverage. He's a second lad

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Speaker 1: on all these the law passes are there for him.

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Speaker 1: He's not stopping the guard either. Um. It just looks rough.

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Speaker 1: And then you have Carmelo Anthony trying to rotate right.

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Speaker 1: So a lot of those plays are like Carmelos that

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Speaker 1: drop big. Carmelo's the guy who's the low man who

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Speaker 1: has to help, and that's just rough against like a

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Speaker 1: guy O Coongo who's just who can jump off the floor.

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Speaker 1: I think you have like a one handed you see

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Speaker 1: that one handed crazy Dunky had that disgusting insane Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I thought trade through that. I thought trade through that

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Speaker 1: pass way off and he was still able to get

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Speaker 1: it and duncan he just we just had big Art

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Speaker 1: too slows throw him higher. The athlete will go get

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Speaker 1: the right, let him go, let him go get it.

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Speaker 1: Um And you're right about a D being out of

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Speaker 1: the play, and I thought a D was a little

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Speaker 1: bit frustrated on that as well. I don't think we

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Speaker 1: wanted to switch. But the way that the Hawks kind

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Speaker 1: of run their action, they set like a double screen

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Speaker 1: where eighties now on Trey Young, and then you know

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Speaker 1: you have Stanley Johnson, who's I thought great. I thought

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Speaker 1: when Stanley and a D trap tray, that was our

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Speaker 1: best defense really like they were able to get hands up,

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Speaker 1: got some steals. But then if you don't get that steel,

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Speaker 1: it's you know, Carmelo, Anthony Rotating, who I thought was

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Speaker 1: closing its leak monk, it's every Bradley Russell Westbrook at

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Speaker 1: times who still kind of undersized. So I thought that's

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Speaker 1: where we lost this one. No Lebron in the fourth

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Speaker 1: the signing excuse you should win a game on the

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Speaker 1: road where you're up eleven in the fourth, But all

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Speaker 1: those things kind of melted down here, and you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe Dwight looks kind of unplayable Carmelo Anthony, I feel

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Speaker 1: like gives up as many points as he scores on

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Speaker 1: a lot of times. Like we have a lot of

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Speaker 1: just really older players and I'm interested to see how

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Speaker 1: it goes here. But hopefully Lebron gets back. We can't

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Speaker 1: build anything, though, Jason. I think that's the frustrating part

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Speaker 1: of watching all these games, like you're seeing a little bit,

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Speaker 1: you're seeing good here. A d has a good game,

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Speaker 1: that Russ has a good game, and they're all separated.

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Speaker 1: Lebron has an incredible game, and now they're just all

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Speaker 1: separate entities that we're trying to put together. Mileek Monk

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Speaker 1: drocks thirty four, but again you have to put him

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Speaker 1: back in the six man role really when Lebron comes back.

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Speaker 1: So I don't know, man, this team has like a

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Speaker 1: super short window to figure this out. Have you checked

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Speaker 1: the standings recently, Jason? You know, I'm not a I'm

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Speaker 1: not a standings checker, Like I've I never really checked it.

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Speaker 1: I just checked recently, and I'm like, we're ninth. Oh,

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Speaker 1: Like I did not realize that. I was like, the

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Speaker 1: MAVs are eight games over five hundred. I did not

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Speaker 1: realize that the Clippers won again today without Kwai and

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Speaker 1: Paul George Um on the I'm not sure. I don't

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Speaker 1: remember if it was on the road or at home

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Speaker 1: against Charlotte, but they want again. So it's it's rough man.

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Speaker 1: We're like, this is the extreme scenario, but we're like

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Speaker 1: only four games up on San Antonio. Who's I believe

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Speaker 1: out of the playoff picture? Like they just think about

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Speaker 1: that from the from from how we're treating this season.

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Speaker 1: So I think it's go time. I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: if Lebron can, it's a sense of urgency here. Like

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Speaker 1: I get Lebron has to be healthy to come back,

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Speaker 1: of course that's number one. But we need to start

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Speaker 1: building some continuity here because like all these games without

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Speaker 1: all three of them, is just tough to take data

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Speaker 1: from here. We started DeAndre Jordan Jason in that Charlotte game.

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Speaker 1: We didn't talk about this waste of joke, what a

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Speaker 1: waste of like a process game? You know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: What could you take from that. I don't I don't understand.

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Speaker 1: And obviously DJ's out of the rotation. Trevor Reason played

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Speaker 1: in that Charlotte game. I don't think he's in our

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Speaker 1: rotation either way. Ellington played in that game, and he's

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Speaker 1: not in our road like he started that game. When

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Speaker 1: Ellington started that game, he's not in our rotation. I don't.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, but you're right, it's a sensitive urgency

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Speaker 1: that we need to get to. We need to find

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Speaker 1: actions that we can go to in the playoffs that

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Speaker 1: are usable. I think the russ e D screen role

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Speaker 1: has to be something we can you know, us in

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Speaker 1: our back pocket to deploy on other teams, and we

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Speaker 1: just haven't been able to find those things and that's

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Speaker 1: been frustrating. Yeah, you know Dwight, I wonder if there's

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Speaker 1: something going on with Dwight health wise, because you know,

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Speaker 1: Dwight has had bad games this year. I've just always

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Speaker 1: thought that Dwight's success has been more tied to like

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Speaker 1: line up structure and you know, is the entire team

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Speaker 1: playing hard because you know, Dwight is kind of like

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Speaker 1: an energy guy in a lot of ways, and uh,

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Speaker 1: he's more or less looked the same to me athletically

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Speaker 1: this year as he did in That sounds crazy to say,

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Speaker 1: but of light in these last handful of games, for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason, it just looks like the step isn't there.

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Speaker 1: There was a play today, I believe it was in

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Speaker 1: the first half where it was either Monk or Russ.

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Speaker 1: Somebody threw Dwight alab and he usually would catch up

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Speaker 1: or jump up and dunk it, and instead he caught

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Speaker 1: it and he came down with it. He ended up

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Speaker 1: drawing a foul on the play. And I remember just

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Speaker 1: sitting there thinking, like, man like, Dwight looks slow, Like

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Speaker 1: this is the first time I've seen Dwight legitimately look

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Speaker 1: like he's lost the step since, at least compared to

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Speaker 1: this version of him. But I mean, we're four and

364
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Speaker 1: a half games back of the sixth seed rage and

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Speaker 1: I tend to I tend to think that the sixth

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Speaker 1: seed is vitally important for the Lakers for a couple

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Speaker 1: of reasons. One, the play and tournament is something you

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Speaker 1: want to avoid at all costs. And again reminder, we

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Speaker 1: barely beat Golden State on a game winning three from

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Speaker 1: lebron last year. We very easily could have lost that game,

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Speaker 1: ended up playing in a single elimination game against Memphis,

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Speaker 1: and that's a coin flip. With how well Memphis was

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Speaker 1: playing at the end of the season last year, that

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Speaker 1: could have gone south very quickly. It just so happened

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Speaker 1: that it didn't, and so we there is an urgency

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Speaker 1: to get up there. And then the other thing too

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Speaker 1: is time, right, we need continuity. So obviously you have

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Speaker 1: this thirtysothing games left. I think it's thirty one games left.

379
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Speaker 1: But you don't want to go thirty one games straight

380
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Speaker 1: into a very difficult, very grueling series with Golden State

381
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Speaker 1: or Phoenix, a team that when we're at full strength,

382
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Speaker 1: we're probably only like we're we would barely beat them

383
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Speaker 1: if we beat them anyway, Like we're not gonna go

384
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Speaker 1: to Golden State smack them in five. That's not happening.

385
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Speaker 1: We're not going to Phoenix and smacking them in five.

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Speaker 1: That's probably a six or seven game series if we're healthy.

387
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Speaker 1: You would like to avoid that until later on. If

388
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Speaker 1: you could get that sixth seed, then you could play

389
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Speaker 1: either Memphis or Utah in the first round and give

390
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Speaker 1: yourself a better chance to get a really good feel

391
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Speaker 1: for playoff basketball. Before you roll into basically, uh, you know,

392
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Speaker 1: a wheel match up against the title contender at that

393
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Speaker 1: point in the second round. So urgency is a real

394
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Speaker 1: thing here, and that's what worried me about Lebron's knee.

395
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Speaker 1: I got in trouble with a bunch of crazy, insane

396
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Speaker 1: Lebron fans because I tweeted out that I was worried

397
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Speaker 1: about Lebron's knee and they thought they basically thought I

398
00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,639
Speaker 1: was insinuating he was sitting on purpose, which is ridiculous.

399
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Speaker 1: But I was worried about Lebron because I'm sitting here thinking,

400
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Speaker 1: like early in the season, he was resting because of

401
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 1: the lack of urgency. We were in a very easy

402
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Speaker 1: part of our schedule, you know, we were playing a

403
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Speaker 1: bunch of games that we were like, hey, Russ and

404
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,640
Speaker 1: maybe can win these games, and Lebron. Lebron was like, Hey,

405
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Speaker 1: I don't want to deal with this abdominal thing. I'd

406
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:39,919
Speaker 1: rather get it healed. I don't want to deal with

407
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Speaker 1: this ankle thing. I'd rather get it healed. These were

408
00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,920
Speaker 1: three very winnable games on the road at a point

409
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Speaker 1: in the season when we have real urgency in the

410
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:54,560
Speaker 1: standings and Lebron didn't play, which worries me about that

411
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Speaker 1: knee because I think he would have given it a

412
00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,399
Speaker 1: goo if he could have. So now the m R

413
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,400
Speaker 1: I came back clean, so hopefully things resolve. But swelling

414
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,439
Speaker 1: is weird rajs like swelling doesn't happen. Swelling is usually

415
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,800
Speaker 1: a result of irritation or inflammation. It makes you feel

416
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,720
Speaker 1: like there's something going on there. I'm hopeful that that's

417
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,359
Speaker 1: not the case. Hopefully we're just overthinking it. You know,

418
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,320
Speaker 1: It's funny in that game, that last game you played

419
00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,160
Speaker 1: the windmill. You can tell he wanted to go to

420
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,320
Speaker 1: his full windmill and he had to check up and

421
00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:26,720
Speaker 1: do like a half windmill on that play. And I

422
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,440
Speaker 1: remember immediately thinking like, oh, his need didn't quite do

423
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Speaker 1: what he wanted it to do on that play, and

424
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Speaker 1: I was a little bit worried about it. So I mean,

425
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Speaker 1: are you Are you as worried about Lebron as I am? Ros?

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00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,639
Speaker 1: Are you pretty confident? So this is similar to me.

427
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,479
Speaker 1: Not to compare it, but like when we do like

428
00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,160
Speaker 1: west or Westwood trades or stuff like worrying about Lebron

429
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,200
Speaker 1: his knee is like that, Like if Lebron's not healthy.

430
00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,879
Speaker 1: We're not going anywhere anyway, Like Lebron's not here, We're

431
00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,159
Speaker 1: not doing anything. So I don't worry about that. This

432
00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:53,920
Speaker 1: team has a multitude of issues going on. I think

433
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,560
Speaker 1: Lebron's health is number one. But yeah, I don't worry

434
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:58,920
Speaker 1: about that. At least other reports that have come out

435
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,040
Speaker 1: has said that you'll be line. I think you'll take

436
00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,640
Speaker 1: another maybe seven days or something. I think he flew

437
00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,040
Speaker 1: back to Hey already before the Atlanta game to get

438
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,520
Speaker 1: treatment and to rest up um. So hopefully, you know,

439
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,280
Speaker 1: he's final, and again it came back negative, so hopefully

440
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:14,080
Speaker 1: he can come back in a week. I think he'll

441
00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,359
Speaker 1: be back. You know, my only worry is the time,

442
00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,320
Speaker 1: like you talked about, we have like twenty something games

443
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,479
Speaker 1: were already behind though, right, Phoenix and Golden State already

444
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,320
Speaker 1: came back with cores that they've had for years now.

445
00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:26,239
Speaker 1: Chris Paul and those you know, those guys have been

446
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,760
Speaker 1: playing thegether forever. Like that's my worry. Year. You want

447
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:30,560
Speaker 1: to just go in with a chance the sixth seed

448
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,600
Speaker 1: will be nice, Jason, But I mean, like Denver has

449
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:35,960
Speaker 1: won four in a row. The Mavericks are fully healthy now,

450
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,920
Speaker 1: they want like they want like eight out of ten

451
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,639
Speaker 1: or something like that. I don't see them slowing down, right,

452
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:42,800
Speaker 1: and so like it's basically the Clippers and the Timberwolves

453
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,080
Speaker 1: in front of you. Maybe you can catch those two teams,

454
00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:47,119
Speaker 1: but I just don't see them maybe catching those. I

455
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,199
Speaker 1: think the plane is probably are our bet right now.

456
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:51,520
Speaker 1: I would love for them to get out of that.

457
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,320
Speaker 1: But that's just what looks like. No, I know, it's

458
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,280
Speaker 1: it's not great. I mean, that's not what you want

459
00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:57,919
Speaker 1: to straight years. You know, we have to kind of

460
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 1: win again and we saw last year, like again, maybe

461
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:02,679
Speaker 1: if a d doesn't go down and you beat the Phoenix,

462
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,800
Speaker 1: sense that we really don't know, but you know, that's

463
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:06,199
Speaker 1: just not the way you want to go into this.

464
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,520
Speaker 1: But that's the kind of situation we're in now. We'll

465
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:10,920
Speaker 1: see what the trade deadline does as well. That's coming

466
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,000
Speaker 1: up but here soon. Uh it's ready januaryone, about two

467
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,640
Speaker 1: weeks we'll get the trade deadline as well. So interesting now,

468
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:19,760
Speaker 1: it's interesting, man, I don't know what. I feel like,

469
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,199
Speaker 1: we can't just waste games like that. What was so

470
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,240
Speaker 1: upsetting to me about the Charlotte game because it feels

471
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 1: like we just punted that one. I understand. I understand

472
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 1: a d you know, wants to rest the risk or whatever.

473
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,439
Speaker 1: It was Lebron again seriously heard, I get that, but

474
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:35,720
Speaker 1: you know there's still chances to find stuff that we

475
00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:40,720
Speaker 1: can use the starting DeAndre Jordan Wayne ellingtone the offensive

476
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,560
Speaker 1: rating in net Ring, Oh yeah, yeah it was. It

477
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 1: was yeah, it was negative eight eight, like you know,

478
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:49,120
Speaker 1: like that's just that's just abysmal. And that that unit

479
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 1: got two shifts. He said that, you know, got two shifts,

480
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,280
Speaker 1: and you know, you just throw away a game like that.

481
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,280
Speaker 1: And again the comeback was nice. You know, once you

482
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,560
Speaker 1: put the young guys in Austin Reeves pht not Malak

483
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,880
Speaker 1: Monkey sat that game, but they got on a run

484
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:03,640
Speaker 1: and Russ was able to get to the rim. I thought,

485
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,160
Speaker 1: you know, he kind of built on that from that one.

486
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,120
Speaker 1: But you know, it's just tough to me when you're

487
00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:09,960
Speaker 1: just punching games because I don'tink we're in position too.

488
00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:11,640
Speaker 1: You have to try to find stuff from every night,

489
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,959
Speaker 1: and we just we did in that game. We wasted

490
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,639
Speaker 1: that one tonight. You know, I thought we found some

491
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,399
Speaker 1: offensive stuff. I thought, Malik Monk and Ante Davis, who

492
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,639
Speaker 1: we can get to next here because I thought he

493
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,680
Speaker 1: was incredible at first half, but Milik Monk and Adi

494
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 1: built some chemistry as well. But it's gonna be tough

495
00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:26,920
Speaker 1: to kind of build that and catch up to where

496
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,320
Speaker 1: we need to go for sure. Yep, no, I agree.

497
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,159
Speaker 1: Moving on to a D you know, there's I think

498
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,240
Speaker 1: I've seen enough from him this week to definitively state

499
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,639
Speaker 1: that he genuinely looks quicker and more out than he

500
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 1: did when he left. And I'm sure you know there

501
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 1: was something going on with him before the knee injury.

502
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,560
Speaker 1: It was either wait or an injury that he wasn't disclosing,

503
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,280
Speaker 1: or a combination of both. But whatever happened over the

504
00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,040
Speaker 1: course of this time there, I think the I think

505
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 1: he actually came out and said that he's lost a

506
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,600
Speaker 1: little bit of weight and then and then he said

507
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,840
Speaker 1: in an interview I believe after the Charlotte or after

508
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,639
Speaker 1: the game on Thursday, he straight up said, my body

509
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 1: feels great now. So the big the big place where

510
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,760
Speaker 1: I'm noticing it is in his step back jump shots,

511
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,119
Speaker 1: which I know, our shots that we uh discussed with

512
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 1: a D as being you know, like that we wish

513
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,920
Speaker 1: he'd cut back on a little bit because they're so difficult.

514
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 1: But the big thing I look for on a step

515
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: back jump shot is how solid someone's base is, because

516
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: a lot of times early in the season you'd see

517
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 1: a D take these difficult jump shots, but he just

518
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,359
Speaker 1: wasn't really getting much separation and not getting much lift,

519
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,880
Speaker 1: which in addition to his limited touch, at least with

520
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 1: his slump that he's been in, it's a very very

521
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:47,520
Speaker 1: very low percentage shot. But I'm seeing a lot of

522
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,359
Speaker 1: these moves that he was doing today, especially in straight

523
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:55,159
Speaker 1: up isolation situations against Clincapella and John Collins. He was

524
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,160
Speaker 1: getting really good separation. You know, you always talk about

525
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 1: Malik Monk's dip on his jump shot when you see

526
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:04,440
Speaker 1: him get that really good knee bend. I was, Yeah,

527
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:06,960
Speaker 1: I was seeing a lot of that from Anthony Davis today,

528
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,720
Speaker 1: like getting into that move, getting a really good deep

529
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,160
Speaker 1: knee bend and getting great lift, which is just great

530
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,920
Speaker 1: to see with how good he looks. Again, talking about this,

531
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 1: in the totality of the picture, you have all of

532
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,120
Speaker 1: this stuff to be excited about as a Laker fan,

533
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 1: like a D looks great. Stanley Johnson and a D

534
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 1: together on defense, they're a site to behold you think

535
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,639
Speaker 1: about that and combining Lebron into that picture. I was

536
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,159
Speaker 1: I tweeted out today, like imagine trapping a screen and

537
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,720
Speaker 1: roll with a really good point guard like a step

538
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,240
Speaker 1: or a Trey Young in a playoff series and forcing

539
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 1: them to make these looping passes out of the trap.

540
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,680
Speaker 1: But that's Lebron James, like hitting the hole and slight,

541
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,160
Speaker 1: like shooting the gap and stealing the ball and going

542
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 1: the other way. Like there's a lot to get excited

543
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 1: about there. Again, Russ is genuinely trending in the right direction,

544
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,280
Speaker 1: and we'll talk more about him in a second, but

545
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,720
Speaker 1: like everything is starting, there's a lot of this stuff

546
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 1: to point to that's good, but we're not winning games.

547
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,399
Speaker 1: And again, like you're right, like if we have Lebron,

548
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 1: do we win that game today? Yeah? Probably, If we

549
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: have Lebron, we probably win all three of these games.

550
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: But again, one of the like you've been big on

551
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:23,160
Speaker 1: this rage like if you're title contender, go beat the Hornets, Okay,

552
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 1: beat the Hornets. If you're a title contender, go into

553
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: Atlanta and beat beat the Hawks. Okay, yeah, if we're

554
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: in if we're on the road in Milwaukee, like I

555
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of expectations for you to beat

556
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: that team without some of your guys, But Doude, you

557
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,239
Speaker 1: have to be able to go into Charlotte and go

558
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: into Atlanta and get a win in an urgent situation

559
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 1: when you need the win for the standings, when you

560
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,680
Speaker 1: have Anthony Davis looking this good, when Russell Westbrooks making

561
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,959
Speaker 1: shots for the first time in months, like, you have

562
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:55,720
Speaker 1: to be able to go in there and win a game.

563
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 1: This is some of this stuff is like you know

564
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 1: again in it's just their checkpoints, rods, their checkpoints that

565
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,159
Speaker 1: good teams hit that we're just not hitting. And and

566
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,440
Speaker 1: again we can talk about these positives and yes, Adi

567
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 1: looks great, and you know, as far as the play

568
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: in goes, like if I'm Golden State or I'm Phoenix,

569
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 1: I'm not excited about the idea of having to face

570
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 1: l A in the first round. But again, they probably

571
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,480
Speaker 1: be favored and for good reason, because they're better basketball

572
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:25,919
Speaker 1: teams than us. And yeah, there's an idea, there's a

573
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: there's like a version of this that could be very

574
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 1: difficult to be but we sure as hell haven't seen it.

575
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 1: And it's I'm sorry to get a little bit worried man. Yeah,

576
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,119
Speaker 1: you know, it's been frustrating because the last two years

577
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 1: have all pretty much been theoretical with this team. Right

578
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: after a D got her on Valentine's Day, uh last

579
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 1: year this year and losing the trenk of time. But

580
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 1: but yeah, when Adie got her, the team got theoretical.

581
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:51,600
Speaker 1: You're like, Okay, when a D comes back, let's add

582
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:53,439
Speaker 1: him to like Marc Resol, right, and we'll see what

583
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:55,680
Speaker 1: happens there. And then like a D went out, Lebron

584
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 1: gets out, like okay, well wait, you know, let's add

585
00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,520
Speaker 1: it to Andre Drumm and see how that looks. And

586
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 1: then now they were both out. You get to the

587
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,240
Speaker 1: playoffs and you get a few games of them healthy,

588
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,480
Speaker 1: and then a D goes down again, right again this year.

589
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,399
Speaker 1: You get a couple of games, but you start DeAndre

590
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:09,880
Speaker 1: Jordans with it the whole time, next to Camp Baysmore,

591
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 1: both who are out of the rotation pretty much now.

592
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: And then a D goes down. And then now you

593
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:16,240
Speaker 1: come back and the team's playing the way it's supposed to.

594
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:18,480
Speaker 1: There's small ball you're running. Let's say, all right, let's

595
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 1: add a D to this. A D comes back. You

596
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,919
Speaker 1: beat Brooklyn on the road, right, no Kate, no Katie,

597
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 1: no Kyrie, but whatever, you get to win on Brooklyn,

598
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,639
Speaker 1: and then Lebron goes out the next day, so you

599
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:29,840
Speaker 1: get one game with the big three playing the way

600
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:33,120
Speaker 1: it's supposed to um and then and then Lebron goes out.

601
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 1: So it's been a frustrating kind of back and forth.

602
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 1: But the theoretical doesn't work unless you get this Anthony Davis,

603
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 1: you know, and I tweeted earlier like there's a you know,

604
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:42,879
Speaker 1: there's a pushing full, there's a line you have to

605
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:44,880
Speaker 1: you have to kind of tail where like you don't

606
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 1: want to take, you know, for granted, or to critique

607
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,879
Speaker 1: a d too much. But you can also be understanding

608
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: that this is not the guy we started the year with, right, Jason, Like,

609
00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 1: this is not the it's not the player that started

610
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,479
Speaker 1: the year. This guy has way more mobility. You can

611
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:58,359
Speaker 1: see it on defense as well. He's been shutting off,

612
00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 1: picking rolls, doing what he can, and then on the

613
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: other end, rolling to the rim, playing above the basket,

614
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 1: playing above the rim, crashing offensive rebounds. He's getting like

615
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 1: offensive rebound put back dunks like we weren't seeing that

616
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:10,680
Speaker 1: earlier in the year the jump shot, you talked about

617
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: the step back any more separation. I think that's the

618
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,159
Speaker 1: difference here. I don't think we mind the jump shots.

619
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,399
Speaker 1: It's the like post up contested, can't get any space

620
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 1: on a defender step back jumper where it's fully contested,

621
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: like the step back where he has space. I think

622
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:25,280
Speaker 1: I think he's a better shooter than he's shown. He

623
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,120
Speaker 1: hit a three again, I think tonight as well. But yeah,

624
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,439
Speaker 1: the jumper looks better. The jumper looks there. All the

625
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 1: floaters and stuff are coming back, those like those like

626
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,800
Speaker 1: unorthodox twist shots, all stuff that he has in his arsenal.

627
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,800
Speaker 1: He looks good in the theoretical you know, upside of

628
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 1: this team doesn't get there unless we get this a D,

629
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 1: so that box has checked. The issue only is that

630
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,239
Speaker 1: these boxes are getting checked separately. So you check the

631
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: Lady box and then now you check and then a

632
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: D comes back. Lebron goes out, so you get the

633
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: Lebron box. Rush starts playing well, but it's without one

634
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 1: of the two stars, so it's without all two of

635
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 1: the stars back. So it's another box that gets checked.

636
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:00,080
Speaker 1: It's been rough. Malik Monk plays well, but it's like,

637
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,240
Speaker 1: you know, we had don't have half the team, or

638
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:03,920
Speaker 1: we were playing well, but we don't have our wings.

639
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 1: It's just I don't know, it's a it's a tough

640
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: kind of thing to solve here. We'll see if they

641
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,080
Speaker 1: you know, go all in in the trade deadline, if

642
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 1: they you know throw th H T. None in that

643
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 1: first comeback. Yeah, and then Kendrick None was supposed to

644
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,400
Speaker 1: come back, right and if he got another setback. So

645
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:20,960
Speaker 1: I don't know, they still don't have a timetable on him,

646
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: which is insane. He's out like five months for a

647
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 1: think he'll ever play in the Laker Jersey. Wow, he

648
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: actually had a decent game. One other thing too, really quickly.

649
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,840
Speaker 1: Did you happen to notice that Anthony Davis got a

650
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:40,880
Speaker 1: little frustrated with Monks shot selection in that fourth quarter? Oh? Yeah,

651
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: I think it was that final play where I really

652
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 1: saw it. I didn't really see it on other plays,

653
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 1: but yeah, the last one for sure, Like he was

654
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 1: drawing at him all the way down the floor and

655
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,719
Speaker 1: the Hawks were starting their possession and he was like

656
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:57,200
Speaker 1: staring the leak down Like that was crazy, Like I

657
00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,479
Speaker 1: wanted to be like a D like he has like

658
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 1: thirty six or thirty three or whatever it was that

659
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:05,880
Speaker 1: he had. I'm like, I would be like lost, losing,

660
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: like losing causes like frustration like that. So I didn't

661
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:10,680
Speaker 1: understand it. But yeah, you're right, and a D was

662
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 1: taken jump shots in the fourth quarter like like the

663
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 1: the thing ro like as far as our crunch time offense,

664
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 1: this is an important detail. When teams put a big,

665
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:24,520
Speaker 1: strong forward who's athletic on a D, they typically can

666
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:26,480
Speaker 1: find a way to turn him into a jump shooter.

667
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 1: A D can torch the Clint Capella types of the league,

668
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 1: but when it comes to the athletic forwards. Bamat to

669
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,480
Speaker 1: Bio did a great job of doing this to a

670
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: D in the finals. But there's these athletic, strong forwards

671
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 1: that are quicker than a D. They can really force

672
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 1: him to be a jump shoot. Then Russ, who has

673
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 1: had a good game. We're gonna talk about Russ in

674
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 1: a minute, but Russ who's been getting better, they just

675
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 1: put DeAndre Hunter on him. And again, when you have

676
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 1: a team like because they could put like if Lebron

677
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:01,480
Speaker 1: play tonight, what what happened is able to put a

678
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 1: combo on probably on a D, and then they probably

679
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 1: end up putting John Collins on Lebron because John Collins

680
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: guarded Lebron a lot in an earlier matchup this year,

681
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: and then they're probably gonna put DeAndre Hunter and Russ.

682
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 1: The point is is all of these teams, at least

683
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: most of the good teams in the league have enough

684
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: big forwards to be like, hey, we got one for

685
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: Russ too. And Russ couldn't get to the rim either. Again,

686
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 1: twelve missed jump shots, four shots attempted in the paint

687
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,600
Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter. It's just it's just not good enough.

688
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,719
Speaker 1: Now again, just Lebron solve that, yes, but this is

689
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: that's part of the issue with having Russ in those

690
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 1: light game situations is he can't really get an advantage

691
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis is gonna take jump shots. So it's

692
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 1: how we lost the okay See games. We literally lost

693
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: okay See because in crunch time they put a big

694
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 1: athletic forward on a D and a big athletic forward

695
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: on Russ, switched every ball screen and there was nothing

696
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 1: the two of them could do to get to the rim.

697
00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: And neither of them are good enough at making jump

698
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 1: shots in order to out execute a team at the

699
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 1: end of the game. It's a real problem. Now, well

700
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 1: brawn again fixes that problem. But those are two massive

701
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,000
Speaker 1: shortcomings with those guys that very much limit what they

702
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,880
Speaker 1: can do in terms of their effectiveness in late game situations. Yeah,

703
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: and you know it's easier when they can also zone

704
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 1: up right. So again we chose with and not to

705
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,480
Speaker 1: like pick on Avery Bradley Night his fault. But you know,

706
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: you know you throw you threw a post entry pass

707
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 1: into a D and then you have you know, a

708
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 1: D maybe Bradley and the Weeks side corner like teams

709
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:26,840
Speaker 1: can just zone up and then you have a big,

710
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 1: strong guy on him. You know, a D doesn't want

711
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 1: to bruise all the way to the rim. Sometimes maybe

712
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,240
Speaker 1: it was tired or whatever it was. He was settling

713
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 1: for sure, and our offense kind of broke down right,

714
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,440
Speaker 1: So it was Russell Westbrook trying to run screen action.

715
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 1: They switched all of that, so it's again him trying

716
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 1: to attack isolation against one of those bigger guys you

717
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 1: talked about, John Collins, DeAndre Hunter. Even though Kuong lu

718
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 1: So it was a tough tough thing to watch man

719
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter, and you know Lebron solves a

720
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: lot of that for sure. But like, you know, I

721
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,160
Speaker 1: thought Bleak Monk said something interesting after the game. I

722
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 1: kind of tweated, he said. I think he was asked

723
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: by Davidmani and he's like, what do you take from this?

724
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 1: You know too and four road trip, and uh he said,

725
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,480
Speaker 1: not enough energy, not enough urgency. And he said, we

726
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 1: didn't respond when we got hit in the mouth. And

727
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: I think that's you know, you know, and I think

728
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 1: that's interesting, you know for a team. Again, we're like,

729
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 1: what we have thirty games left, so we played a

730
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,720
Speaker 1: lot of games now, and you know, that's an identity

731
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 1: that your team kind of builds as as the season goes.

732
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 1: And I thought you saw that in the fourth quarter,

733
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 1: and that's just not this fourth quarter. We've seen that

734
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: a lot Lakers have a lead and they don't just

735
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,320
Speaker 1: blow a lead like they get ran off the floor. Jason.

736
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,840
Speaker 1: Like when the team, as Malik Lank says, gets hit,

737
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,560
Speaker 1: it hits you in the mouth, they just kind of fold,

738
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 1: you know, like it's not even it's not even like

739
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 1: a fight. They get they fold. They were you know,

740
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 1: you lose the fourth quarter by a team like that's

741
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:40,480
Speaker 1: not normal, and we don't really like to talk a

742
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,520
Speaker 1: lot about you know, the intelligible stuff like that, because

743
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:44,360
Speaker 1: but that's not like on the core stuff. But you

744
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 1: can kind of combine those things and you can see

745
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,560
Speaker 1: like the fight kind of go away, the belief go away,

746
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,640
Speaker 1: especially when trade stop. How do you give up thirty

747
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 1: eight points and a winnable basketball game when you desperately

748
00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: need it in the standings and you're just not competing

749
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,320
Speaker 1: on the defensive been to the ball rog, yeah, you know,

750
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 1: and it was you know, Trey Young, you know, he

751
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,239
Speaker 1: found that he can you know, play pick them, you know,

752
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 1: like it was like it was like a buffet for him.

753
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 1: He's like, all have Avery Bradley here, I have Carmelo Anthony, here,

754
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: I have League Monk here. Let me just pick one

755
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 1: of these defenders, whoever it is. I think he'd be

756
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,279
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves too at the basket a few times, but

757
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 1: just got to the rim, got to a step back

758
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: three and those were always going to go in eventually,

759
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 1: Like I talked about, he wasn't gonna go with one

760
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:25,399
Speaker 1: for seven. But that's now the here and there. It's

761
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:27,200
Speaker 1: more like the you know, we didn't switch up. There

762
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:29,839
Speaker 1: wasn't an aggression level. I thought in the fourth enough

763
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 1: to kind of win this one. And that you know,

764
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 1: it's sad to see because I, you know, the fans

765
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 1: and I like us, we feel the sense of urgency here.

766
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,319
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if the team you know, feels it as

767
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 1: we do. Uh, just the way you know that they're

768
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:42,480
Speaker 1: approaching these games. But that's what I would like to see,

769
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:45,520
Speaker 1: man of these last thirty games. Build something, Build a process,

770
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 1: build to a process. I keep I keep twinning out.

771
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:49,880
Speaker 1: Let's build, and I mean, let's build something. You know,

772
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 1: like you, we can't throw a games. I understand you

773
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:54,080
Speaker 1: can't win all of these. We're not gonna you know,

774
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:55,919
Speaker 1: go twenty nine and oh or whatever it is, even

775
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 1: when Lebron comes back. But just start to build. You

776
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,200
Speaker 1: understand who's not going to be in the rotation. Who is?

777
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,360
Speaker 1: Let's stick to those guys. Deander Joinan should not be

778
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 1: starting any more games. I don't care who's out. You

779
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,760
Speaker 1: should not be starting any more games. Uh, Trevor reads obviously,

780
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:09,319
Speaker 1: maybe you can try to find him a spot on

781
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,040
Speaker 1: the rotation. I think you know, Reeves has to start

782
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,359
Speaker 1: for Bradley eventually here. I don't know when we get

783
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:16,560
Speaker 1: to that point, but I feel like that point should

784
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,319
Speaker 1: be coming here soon. Just stuff that I want to see.

785
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 1: That that's good process man tonight if he didn't, yeah,

786
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,200
Speaker 1: and that you know that that's been trending upwards. Bradley again,

787
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:28,839
Speaker 1: Bradley playing eight minute first quarter shifts like that's too

788
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,360
Speaker 1: long to me, but that's probably near taking. Yeah, but

789
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:33,200
Speaker 1: you know, you get, you get good a d. Hopefully

790
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: le Bron can come back playing the way he was.

791
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,920
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook starting to get a groove as a score.

792
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,240
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, he had some tough turnovers tonight,

793
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: but he had a good floor game, like he was

794
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: passing out at least offensively. I thought like he was

795
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 1: finding shooters in corners and stuff like that. But that's

796
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:49,560
Speaker 1: the rough part of the season when we haven't built

797
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 1: any continuity with the team that's going to go in

798
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 1: and you know, if the trade deadline goes as you

799
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,120
Speaker 1: know you think it does and a lot of people do,

800
00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:58,160
Speaker 1: we might have to build this all over again because

801
00:35:58,160 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 1: you might just have a new team by then. So

802
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:01,399
Speaker 1: I I don't know, I don't know what we're gonna

803
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: do after after that happens. But again, Ross, this is

804
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,240
Speaker 1: where that like the turnover that I've been talking about

805
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 1: in terms of a mental reset for the roster, I

806
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:13,800
Speaker 1: think is so important because again, the Lakers had enough

807
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:18,480
Speaker 1: talent to beat the fellow the Philadelphia seventy sixers. They

808
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 1: had enough talent to beat Charlotte. They had enough talent

809
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,440
Speaker 1: to go into Atlanta and beat the Hawks on Sunday,

810
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,160
Speaker 1: and they blew all three of those games. And the

811
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 1: and the way I look at and in all three

812
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 1: and weird ways right like that that Philly game, it

813
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,120
Speaker 1: just seemed like there was no belief, remember Raj, And

814
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 1: like then when they would make runs, they couldn't sustain anything,

815
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:43,880
Speaker 1: and they dug themselves into big of a hole. That

816
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:46,920
Speaker 1: Charlotte game, it was the starting lineup and just gifting

817
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:49,800
Speaker 1: them a twenty point lead, and then today it's blowing

818
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:53,359
Speaker 1: the big lead. But again, the basketball character of this

819
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,400
Speaker 1: group of egos and personalities in that locker room is

820
00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:02,200
Speaker 1: not working in terms of consistently playing with urgency, like

821
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: because because we thought, okay, maybe Stanley Johnson and Austin

822
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 1: Reeves getting more minutes, maybe it'll be infectious. No, aside

823
00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:12,120
Speaker 1: from those guys, nobody plays hard enough, consistently or is

824
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 1: willing to do the job, so that concoction isn't working.

825
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 1: It needs to be flipped. And so that that's why again,

826
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,560
Speaker 1: even if it's a net neutral exchange for talent, or

827
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: even a little bit of a dip in talent that

828
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:27,680
Speaker 1: you experience over the course of the deadline, if it's

829
00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,440
Speaker 1: a better concoction of players, because you know that that

830
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: that locker room thing, chemistry thing is so it's so delicate,

831
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,440
Speaker 1: raj like, it's just because there's a lot of fringe

832
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:43,360
Speaker 1: NBA players playing in Golden State. But for some reason,

833
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 1: they keep winning even though step is playing like crap,

834
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 1: Draymond Green's got a messed up back and isn't even playing,

835
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 1: and Clay Thompson's coming back from two catastrophic injuries, and

836
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 1: they keep winning. Why because they're locker room. Just that

837
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 1: whole mix is just working in addition to scheming and

838
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:03,439
Speaker 1: coaching and a lot of different things. I'm not trying

839
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: to undercut all the basketball, but there's also just a

840
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:09,440
Speaker 1: better locker room there. And for whatever reason, I'm not

841
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 1: even saying the guys in the Lakers locker room don't

842
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 1: like each other. I don't even think it's necessarily chemistry based.

843
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:18,520
Speaker 1: It's like just basketball based. It's a bad basketball mix

844
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,160
Speaker 1: and it's just not working, and the Lakers have to

845
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 1: do something to turn that over. I did, I did

846
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,239
Speaker 1: want to. I did want to talk about Russ for

847
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,760
Speaker 1: a second, because he is starting to trend a little

848
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,960
Speaker 1: bit better. You know. One of the one of the

849
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:34,120
Speaker 1: big reasons why I think he's been better is what

850
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 1: has kind of led to him playing better is he's

851
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:39,959
Speaker 1: starting to finish at the basket a little bit more rage.

852
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed that, but that previous

853
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:46,120
Speaker 1: month was one of the worst stretches of finishing I've

854
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,640
Speaker 1: ever seen from an NBA basketball player, and a lot

855
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 1: of them weren't even close. Like he'd get into traffic

856
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:54,400
Speaker 1: and it was almost like he was just throwing stuff

857
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:56,239
Speaker 1: at the rim. It looked like one of those time

858
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,040
Speaker 1: outs where when you're watching the league pass and they

859
00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:00,080
Speaker 1: stay on the arena camp and they bring the and

860
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 1: them fan out to try to make lamps. Like that

861
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: was the kind of stuff we were seeing from right

862
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 1: from not from Rush Russ, from Ruster in that in

863
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 1: that previous stretch of game. But he's starting to finish

864
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 1: around the room a little bit better. There's like some

865
00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:14,960
Speaker 1: of its school's gold, like for instance, like there's a

866
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,840
Speaker 1: lot of talk about Russ, you know, giving the Lakers

867
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:19,919
Speaker 1: a chance to win in Charlotte. Don't get me wrong,

868
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,640
Speaker 1: he'd like great, But he made back to back off

869
00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:27,239
Speaker 1: the dribble threes in that late fourth quarter to give

870
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,840
Speaker 1: us a shot to win. Those are shots he's been

871
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:33,400
Speaker 1: making at an incredibly low percentage this year, So like

872
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 1: like some of that school's gold, but he is finishing

873
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:40,960
Speaker 1: at the rim more and that's encouraging. Where I get discouraged,

874
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:45,439
Speaker 1: raj is again, like, dude, you on in this situation

875
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:49,040
Speaker 1: alongside Lebron and a d with these expectations, in the

876
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,600
Speaker 1: types of games you're gonna be playing in in lates,

877
00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 1: in the late season and on the playoffs. You can't

878
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 1: get beat on a close out by DeAndre Hunter because

879
00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:01,480
Speaker 1: we're already relying on infurior athletes at other positions, Like

880
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:04,840
Speaker 1: we're gonna need Austin Reeves or and Avery Bradley or

881
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,759
Speaker 1: a Malik Monk to do something they might not be

882
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 1: capable of on the defensive end in terms of their athleticism,

883
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: but we need Russ lebron and a d to do

884
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,040
Speaker 1: that job. Then on the very next possession, after he

885
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:21,120
Speaker 1: fouls DeAndre Hunter, after DeAndre thankfully miss is one of

886
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,880
Speaker 1: the free throws, we go down, Malik Monk misses the shot,

887
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 1: We go down a d s barking at Malik Monk

888
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,080
Speaker 1: a little bit. We get into US set defense and

889
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,360
Speaker 1: Trey Young gets Russ on a switch. Now, Roger, what

890
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: do I always say about comfort imperimeter players. It's all

891
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:40,320
Speaker 1: about ball pressure, right, Russ played way off of him,

892
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,839
Speaker 1: and Trey Young was able to comfortably walk into one

893
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:47,320
Speaker 1: of his dribble rhythm three point shots. And again it's like, dude,

894
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,960
Speaker 1: you are the type of athlete that can play up

895
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: on Trey Young and make him feel uncomfortable and and

896
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:56,480
Speaker 1: maybe you might not be able to keep him entirely

897
00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:58,799
Speaker 1: in front, but he'll have to do a series of

898
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,600
Speaker 1: moves to get around you because you're a better athlete

899
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,800
Speaker 1: than Trey Young. And that was one of those plays

900
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,680
Speaker 1: where it's like Russ, I think his perspective on it

901
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:08,840
Speaker 1: is like I can play off of him, I can relax,

902
00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: I can make him, you know, may make him take

903
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:13,080
Speaker 1: a jump shot he had just made I think you

904
00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:16,439
Speaker 1: said Rodge three pull up threes in that fourth quarter. Yeah,

905
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:18,080
Speaker 1: I think I think two of them are pull ups

906
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 1: and then another one he made in that in the

907
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 1: short corner on that play where he got disconnected from

908
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,680
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. But again, the point is is, like, dude,

909
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 1: like when we're with Lebron and a d and they're

910
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:31,400
Speaker 1: shouldering so much offensively, you have to be the guy

911
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:33,759
Speaker 1: that does that job. You have to be the guy

912
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:36,000
Speaker 1: that can keep DeAndre Hunter in front of You have

913
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 1: to be the guy that can get a stop on

914
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,480
Speaker 1: Trey Young and a key possession at an end of

915
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:42,239
Speaker 1: a game. And I'm just like, it's that those are

916
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:44,759
Speaker 1: the things that I paid the most attention to with Ross.

917
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:46,360
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. If he's gonna finish at the

918
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 1: basket at this rate, and if he starts to make

919
00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:50,279
Speaker 1: more of his jump shots the way he has in

920
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,399
Speaker 1: recent games, then yeah, we're gonna be able to make

921
00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:56,439
Speaker 1: more of a basketball fit work here. But he has

922
00:41:56,520 --> 00:42:00,839
Speaker 1: to embrace those details. Those are the thing that win

923
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:04,439
Speaker 1: and lose basketball games. They always have been. They never

924
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:07,880
Speaker 1: get talked about enough because people are so focused on highlights.

925
00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:10,239
Speaker 1: And I get that in terms of the popularity of

926
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,480
Speaker 1: the league, But the things that win basketball games are

927
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,399
Speaker 1: little details. I'll give you one last example. Fred van

928
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:23,480
Speaker 1: Vleet is very ill equipped athletically to be a good

929
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 1: defensive guard in the backgroud. He's got quick feed, he's

930
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,200
Speaker 1: got a good strong basis, got a low center of

931
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,440
Speaker 1: gravity's strong. I'm not trying to undercut him as an athlete,

932
00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:33,279
Speaker 1: because he is an athlete. But what primarily makes him

933
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:36,319
Speaker 1: a good defensive player is a commitment to the job.

934
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,080
Speaker 1: And that is what we need out of Russell Westbrook

935
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 1: because with his physical tools, even in this decline state,

936
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:47,480
Speaker 1: we need him to be or at least to make

937
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:50,759
Speaker 1: that commitment like what Fred van Vleet has made. That

938
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,399
Speaker 1: would Can you imagine, Roj, how much better this team

939
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:54,960
Speaker 1: would be if for us made that commitment to the

940
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,800
Speaker 1: defensive end, and what it would do for this team,

941
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 1: it would it would be transformative, you know what I mean? Yeah,

942
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 1: but I mean we're like what we're like what fifty

943
00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:07,080
Speaker 1: games in now? Like I think, like you know, you

944
00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:08,960
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like to me, like hoping for

945
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:11,480
Speaker 1: that stuff type of stuff is tough, Like I just

946
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:13,319
Speaker 1: hope like he starts finishing at the rim better, and

947
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,000
Speaker 1: I have the numbers in front of me. He's at

948
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,760
Speaker 1: you know, seventy seventy six at the in the restricted

949
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,400
Speaker 1: area now, so that don't get the job done right

950
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 1: over the whole season. This is the last five games,

951
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 1: makes sense, That makes sense to the eye test. It

952
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:31,000
Speaker 1: seems like he's been finishing more in recent games, though,

953
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,480
Speaker 1: Jason is you know, it's thirty in the paint, so

954
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:37,960
Speaker 1: like that's the that's the rough part right in the paint.

955
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,640
Speaker 1: That's not the restricted area. So that's still rough that

956
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 1: your point guard you know, can't finish you know at

957
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:46,040
Speaker 1: the around the rim if it's not exactly at the basket.

958
00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 1: But you know, that's small steps. He is finishing better

959
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,279
Speaker 1: now at the basket, but the defense stuff is rough.

960
00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 1: He falls asleep off the ball. I think, you know,

961
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:55,239
Speaker 1: Rust fits better into a switching scheme. I don't like him.

962
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:57,480
Speaker 1: You know, top blocking guards or top blocking you know,

963
00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:59,640
Speaker 1: guys who can shoot, or a guy that fights over

964
00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:02,200
Speaker 1: screen in the drop coverage having to give back pressure.

965
00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 1: He just you know, he and he lends to switch

966
00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:05,879
Speaker 1: to He does a lot of lazy switches where like

967
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 1: there wasn't really a screen, but he still switches. Do

968
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,400
Speaker 1: you see that a lot as well, like stuff like

969
00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:12,560
Speaker 1: that off the ball, where like Avery Bradley, you know

970
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:14,840
Speaker 1: again we you know, we harp on Avery Bradley because

971
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,600
Speaker 1: of what he does in his offensive lack there of

972
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,239
Speaker 1: of offense, and you know how kind of his activity

973
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 1: doesn't really really do anything defensively. Sometimes it's just activity

974
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 1: that's not productivity productivity. But still he plays hard, right,

975
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,040
Speaker 1: he fights so even rather we're fighting hard and you'll

976
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 1: fight over a screen and Russ would just switch when

977
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:34,200
Speaker 1: there wasn't really any contact on the screen, and so

978
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:35,840
Speaker 1: like a guy gets open for three. A lot of

979
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:37,960
Speaker 1: that stuff happens for Uss. But to me, like where

980
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,319
Speaker 1: I think he can improve in this time, it's just

981
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: you know, taking those physical matchups a little bit more.

982
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:44,400
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, in the Charlotte game we were

983
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: coming making our comeback, there was a lot of plays

984
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,040
Speaker 1: where like he would get a switch on. I forget

985
00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 1: who they're big, I forget which plumb Ly it is,

986
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:53,239
Speaker 1: but like one of the plumb least Mason there we go, Yeah,

987
00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:55,560
Speaker 1: Mason Plumbly. I would get the ball in the post

988
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 1: and Russ would just give up. You would just foul

989
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:00,720
Speaker 1: you know, because it's a switch. I'm like Mason Pubbly,

990
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:03,200
Speaker 1: like make make Maison Pubbly finish over you, you know,

991
00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:05,000
Speaker 1: and just stand your ground like stuff like that. I

992
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,240
Speaker 1: think you can still get get better at but expecting

993
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,840
Speaker 1: Russ to be some lockdown defender being some super engaged

994
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:11,360
Speaker 1: guy and day and I think, you know it is

995
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,200
Speaker 1: a is a you know, it's as a Pine the

996
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:15,280
Speaker 1: Sky type of stuff there. He can get more engaged,

997
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 1: maybe Russ and eight when eighty and when Lebron are

998
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:19,440
Speaker 1: both there. You know, he can kind of feel the

999
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:22,800
Speaker 1: feel defensive gaps in a different way. That's the interesting

1000
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,839
Speaker 1: detail here, Dge, because those concession fouls you're talking about,

1001
00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:28,359
Speaker 1: I think that's all related. I think part of the

1002
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 1: issue is the team has never been healthy enough consistently

1003
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,799
Speaker 1: enough for us to have a small enough offensive role

1004
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 1: that he can devote resources to the defensive end. I

1005
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,719
Speaker 1: think that's a huge problem for sure. And yeah, and

1006
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,080
Speaker 1: that offball stuff is definitely a killer though. That's something

1007
00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:45,759
Speaker 1: I definitely worry about too. Um And it's interesting to

1008
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:48,319
Speaker 1: see where we'll deploy him defensively when we get to

1009
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,520
Speaker 1: the better teams. But I want to see it, man,

1010
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:52,000
Speaker 1: Like I don't know. I don't know. I wanted to

1011
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:54,239
Speaker 1: see all three play together. I think they're still at

1012
00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 1: sixteen games played for the whole season, so I don't know.

1013
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,319
Speaker 1: But yeah, like expecting rust to me to like all

1014
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,560
Speaker 1: of a sudden, this lockdown, lockdown guy isn't great. Trey

1015
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:04,960
Speaker 1: Young hit like two forty footers over him. Russ was

1016
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,200
Speaker 1: kind of playing back. That's just how he plays defensively.

1017
00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 1: He's more of a guy that pertains to the paint.

1018
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:11,320
Speaker 1: He steps back, He drops back on a lot of plays.

1019
00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:14,000
Speaker 1: Sometimes when he's engaged, you'll fight over screens and stuff,

1020
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:15,800
Speaker 1: But for the most part, he likes to just switch

1021
00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 1: off and that'll that will happen. So hopefully when lebron

1022
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:19,279
Speaker 1: A d back, you can kind of they can kind

1023
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:20,879
Speaker 1: of plug some of these issues. But I just don't

1024
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:22,320
Speaker 1: see it. I don't see him turning into that. I

1025
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:24,200
Speaker 1: think him finishing at the rim though it's a great thing.

1026
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:26,719
Speaker 1: I think that changes the gap between like what this

1027
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 1: team can be offensively, Like you saw tonight and these

1028
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:31,440
Speaker 1: last few games. When Russ finished at the room, we

1029
00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:33,680
Speaker 1: can score like one twenty right, Like he's not finishing

1030
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 1: at the rim, he misses layups, you know, those are

1031
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:38,960
Speaker 1: essentially turnovers because the team runs the other way. The

1032
00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:41,000
Speaker 1: jump shots, I think, you know, he's taking a lot

1033
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:42,800
Speaker 1: less of them. He still took a few threes tonight.

1034
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: The mid range contested pull ups. You know, we both

1035
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:47,720
Speaker 1: classify those as turnovers as well. Some of those guys

1036
00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:49,719
Speaker 1: still some of those gotta go and maybe that will

1037
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:52,120
Speaker 1: you know, collide when Lebron comes back. But yeah, Russ

1038
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,320
Speaker 1: has been playing better. I just don't see a defensive

1039
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:56,359
Speaker 1: uptake in the way that you just laid out there.

1040
00:46:57,200 --> 00:47:01,480
Speaker 1: We um. You know, It's it's so funny because you

1041
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:03,920
Speaker 1: have these two nights off here right coming up. The

1042
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,319
Speaker 1: Lakers don't play until Wednesday, and it's a home game

1043
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 1: against the Blazers, which effectively amounts to a must win

1044
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:11,600
Speaker 1: when you look at the strength of schedule coming up,

1045
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 1: and we've been on we've been on must win time

1046
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:16,799
Speaker 1: for a very long time. We're we're way past that.

1047
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 1: But it's like, it's like you'd like to be like, oh, well,

1048
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:23,360
Speaker 1: if if we can just bench Lebron for on Wednesday,

1049
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 1: then he can get a bunch of extra But it's like,

1050
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,359
Speaker 1: are you are you confident that the Lakers can beat

1051
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:30,920
Speaker 1: the Blazers at home without Labron because I don't know.

1052
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:34,160
Speaker 1: So it's like that's where it gets tricky, because especially

1053
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:35,600
Speaker 1: since it's a back to back because we play the

1054
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:38,319
Speaker 1: Clippers the very next night. But I mean, it's just

1055
00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:41,800
Speaker 1: it's just tough, man. It's it's urgency time, and obviously

1056
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 1: there's some positives here, but like you said, we gotta

1057
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:45,319
Speaker 1: check a bunch of boxes at the same time or

1058
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:47,400
Speaker 1: this isn't going anywhere. Did you have anything else on

1059
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:49,120
Speaker 1: your notes you wanted to hit on before we called

1060
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 1: it today? Not really, but like, doesn't it feel like

1061
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:53,759
Speaker 1: the Blazers have had an awful season? Did you know?

1062
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 1: They're only like I think they're a game back for

1063
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:59,080
Speaker 1: two games back of us. Yeah, Like it feels like

1064
00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:02,640
Speaker 1: the Blazes have had just in awful uh, an awful season.

1065
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:04,960
Speaker 1: But I think when I checked the standings two and

1066
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:08,440
Speaker 1: a half, Yeah, isn't that an insane Like it feels

1067
00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:10,680
Speaker 1: like they've been just torching And you know, I'm not

1068
00:48:10,719 --> 00:48:13,319
Speaker 1: following Portland's too closely, but it just feels like with

1069
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:15,520
Speaker 1: everything that's come out there, like they've had an awful season.

1070
00:48:15,719 --> 00:48:17,759
Speaker 1: You know, Dame hasn't played I think in a while

1071
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:21,480
Speaker 1: CJ just got back. There's two games behind us, like

1072
00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:24,279
Speaker 1: that's that's insane how this season has gone. That's just

1073
00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:27,560
Speaker 1: we're bad. We're bad basket alright, everybody, Thank you guys

1074
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:28,840
Speaker 1: so much for coming to hang out even though the

1075
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:31,000
Speaker 1: football games were on. This is gonna air on DASH

1076
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:33,680
Speaker 1: Radio tomorrow morning at seven am Pacific Standard time, and

1077
00:48:33,719 --> 00:48:35,759
Speaker 1: we'll be on our podcast feed here in about an hour.

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00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:38,840
Speaker 1: As always, we sincerely appreciate your support. Roger and I

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00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:41,280
Speaker 1: will probably end up doing something on either Monday or Tuesday,

1080
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,680
Speaker 1: so stay tuned, pay attention to our Twitter feeds, and

1081
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:46,319
Speaker 1: we'll let you guys know. Thank you so much. Enjoy

1082
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:47,759
Speaker 1: the rest of your weekend, and we'll talk to you

1083
00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:49,600
Speaker 1: in a day or two. Thanks everyone,