Speaker 1: Mmmmm, all right. Welcome to the State of the Lakers,
Speaker 1: presented by DASH Radio. I thank you guys for coming
Speaker 1: to hang out two nights in a row with us
Speaker 1: here on a Wednesday. I know that was an extremely
Speaker 1: frustrating loss, and I know how many of you are
Speaker 1: probably feeling right now. However, Memphis is a really, really
Speaker 1: good team and we were severely undermanned. It was There's
Speaker 1: a reason Memphis was favored by six in Vegas. It
Speaker 1: was a tough loss. We're gonna dig into it. First
Speaker 1: of all, Ross, how you doing, buddy? Oh man, I'm
Speaker 1: doing all right. That was a tough one for sure,
Speaker 1: all those you know caviatects true. Um, still tough to
Speaker 1: blow a four teen point lead late in the third.
Speaker 1: But I'm a wow man, how are you? I'm doing good? Um,
Speaker 1: you know I can't coming into this game. I I
Speaker 1: predicted that Memphis will win by fifteen. And the reason
Speaker 1: why it's just as the Lakers are currently constructed. It's
Speaker 1: a bad matchup for them. Memphis is very big and
Speaker 1: strong at every position. They come at you with an
Speaker 1: onslaught of strength. They're not the most skilled team in
Speaker 1: the world. They are heavily independent on shop making from
Speaker 1: the perimeter from guys like jaw And and Uh and
Speaker 1: Desmond Bayne. However, they can physically overpower you over the
Speaker 1: course of a game, and if you don't bring it
Speaker 1: with your effort and intensity in all of those areas
Speaker 1: of the game, all those physicality areas of the game,
Speaker 1: you'll get beat. And that's why they're fourteen, and that's
Speaker 1: why they have a bunch of really impressive wins this year.
Speaker 1: I think I saw stat today that they've they're the
Speaker 1: only team in the league that's one on the road
Speaker 1: against the three top teams in the West. I think
Speaker 1: was the stat that I've read. That's that's really impressive.
Speaker 1: This is a good basketball team. And what you saw
Speaker 1: tonight was an absolute master class from Lebron James and
Speaker 1: some timely shot making from guys that aren't usually great shooters,
Speaker 1: and a couple of guys from the Lakers go really cold,
Speaker 1: and it's just not being enough. It wasn't enough. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, like when you're going
Speaker 1: to the bench and Lebron's taking a rest at the
Speaker 1: end of the third quarter and Carmelo Anthony is playing center,
Speaker 1: that's I don't know how you compete with a team
Speaker 1: like Memphis with Carmelo Anthony at center. It's just now
Speaker 1: we can get into that, and how frustrating it is
Speaker 1: that that's the direction we went. And obviously I would
Speaker 1: hope that they make the adjustment, but at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it's like their only other adjustment is to,
Speaker 1: you know, play Dwight or somebody there. But like, it's
Speaker 1: just this is it's hard to win games against good
Speaker 1: teams in the NBA when you're at full strength. We
Speaker 1: literally watched the Lakers go into Memphis what two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: I think it was just about two weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: uh and get beat and even though they were playing
Speaker 1: good basketball at the time, And that's just what happens
Speaker 1: when you go on the road to play a good team.
Speaker 1: So I know we're going to dive into all the
Speaker 1: reasons why, and I know it's frustrating, but I would
Speaker 1: just ask everybody to kind of contextualize this by saying
Speaker 1: an understanding that this is a game they were supposed
Speaker 1: to lose. Memphis is really good. There was some good
Speaker 1: process tonight, but when Memphis hit the gas during the stretches,
Speaker 1: when Lebron was off the floor. There just wasn't anything
Speaker 1: we could do. Yeah, I mean, all that's true, and
Speaker 1: I agree with that, I guess in a sense. John
Speaker 1: Morant went six for seven from three. I thought a
Speaker 1: lot of those were like good defense, you know, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like the ball moves around and
Speaker 1: the guy you want to shoot is John Morant, and
Speaker 1: he hit a bunch of them. I think he hit
Speaker 1: his first six threesum mrs last one, including like a
Speaker 1: last second you know, heave at the end of the quarter.
Speaker 1: To me, though this game was lost at the end
Speaker 1: of the third, like, you do enough to win. They
Speaker 1: did enough to win this game in my opinion, and
Speaker 1: you lose a game that Lebron hits eight of fourteen
Speaker 1: from three, Like, that's just really tough. All that stuff
Speaker 1: is true. Memphis is a really damn good team. They were,
Speaker 1: you know, winning even without John Morant. They get their
Speaker 1: superstar back, right, and he was just incredible tonight. He
Speaker 1: was up for the moment obviously, even when they went down.
Speaker 1: But that's just tough to me. To lose the game,
Speaker 1: I believe in like a short two minutes span which
Speaker 1: you know they went with Mellow at the five again,
Speaker 1: which we've talked about a lot at nauseum that you
Speaker 1: know that's probably that's not sustainable against bad teams, against
Speaker 1: teams like the Houston Rockets, let alone a team like Memphis.
Speaker 1: I would love seeing Dwight Howard. I thought Dwight was
Speaker 1: good tonight, Like in his minutes. Um he finished, I
Speaker 1: believe a plus sevent team in a game that we
Speaker 1: lose by six, which is interesting. Um leak Monk as
Speaker 1: well plus twelve, give him credit. But yeah, man, that
Speaker 1: that's really rough for me to to kind of accept.
Speaker 1: Memphis was shooting like eight percent as well from three,
Speaker 1: and I thought our defense was part of that as well.
Speaker 1: They also miss him open shots. Some balls didn't bounce
Speaker 1: our way right, A cup of like offensive rebounds went
Speaker 1: to Desmond Bane. He hit threes. But yeah, men, those
Speaker 1: mellow at the five lineups. It would have just been
Speaker 1: so nice to have one of Areza or Reeves healthy tonight,
Speaker 1: either one. And you probably cut Carmelo Anthony's minutes down
Speaker 1: from thirty minutes. Is just too much for Carmelo, And
Speaker 1: it's not his fault. He's an older guy. That's just
Speaker 1: unfair to him to throw him out there for many minutes.
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook again, the miss Layoup is gonna get plastered everywhere,
Speaker 1: which kind of sucks. So I thought he was actually
Speaker 1: good tonight. We can kind of get into it perfect
Speaker 1: all right, Yeah, we'll get into that later. But honestly,
Speaker 1: like to me, would you agree though that this game
Speaker 1: was lost in the last, you know, three minutes of
Speaker 1: the third because that was incredibly frustrating, and I thought
Speaker 1: that was something I saw a mile away. They took
Speaker 1: Lebron out, put Mellow in and against Stanley Johnson and
Speaker 1: those lineus makes it a little bit better, but he's
Speaker 1: still on the perimeter and it was just a layup
Speaker 1: line to the rim man. John Morant was hunting Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: which was kind of strange. And I thought Westbrook again
Speaker 1: did a nice job on him in his last few possessions.
Speaker 1: But that third quarter, man, they just got going, got
Speaker 1: to the basket and then jaw hits that three lay.
Speaker 1: Russ took a bad shot there. I thought he played
Speaker 1: well tonight, but that was just a bad decision. Should
Speaker 1: have just let the shock clock go down, you get
Speaker 1: you end the third quarter up eight. Instead, you know,
Speaker 1: he takes this weird fade away jumper and it's you know,
Speaker 1: five seconds for John rand Darren Carlson as well, still
Speaker 1: looked like he was moving two speed slower than John
Speaker 1: Morant was going. Let alone with the game was going um,
Speaker 1: and he couldn't stand from me hit three. But would
Speaker 1: you agree with that the game was kind of ended
Speaker 1: in the third quarter because I could just see Lebron
Speaker 1: right when he checked in the fourth again to start
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter. You could just tell I thought he
Speaker 1: was exhausted, um, And you could just tell, like, man,
Speaker 1: I did all that and have to re regain this
Speaker 1: right once once Tias Jones hit that floater to put
Speaker 1: them up one, I honestly thought Memphis was going to
Speaker 1: take take this one. But I thought this was decided
Speaker 1: in the end of the third. You know, there are
Speaker 1: two different kinds of runs that happened in the basketball game.
Speaker 1: There's runs that are part of the normal EBB and
Speaker 1: flow of effort when you play. For when you played
Speaker 1: for forty eight minutes, it's extremely rare for one team
Speaker 1: to be the aggressor the entire game. Usually there are
Speaker 1: these little two three minute stretches where you get a
Speaker 1: couple of stops, you make a couple of shots and
Speaker 1: the complexion of the game changes. That's normal, but then
Speaker 1: there's like runs that are kind of an error of
Speaker 1: process too, you know what I mean. And that's what
Speaker 1: the end of the third quarter was. That was a
Speaker 1: run that could have been avoided. And this is something
Speaker 1: that I talked about a lot coming into this game.
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard is a quality backup NBA center. There's no
Speaker 1: reason to play him with Lebron who is your only
Speaker 1: other center on the roster, only other functional center, and
Speaker 1: then to have stretches of the game where neither of
Speaker 1: them are on the floor, especially against the team that's
Speaker 1: as physically imposing as Memphis. So that run to end
Speaker 1: the third was straight up a coaching era in my opinion.
Speaker 1: It was an error of strategy that led to a run.
Speaker 1: Memphis had too many runs in this game. LA responded
Speaker 1: to most of them, but it ended up being one
Speaker 1: too many, one too many runs that was too much
Speaker 1: for them to overcome. And it's just you know, like
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you have to control
Speaker 1: which you can control. There are some personnel things on
Speaker 1: this team that are outside of our control. I expect
Speaker 1: a certain amount of of shortcomings on any given night,
Speaker 1: based on our roster shortcomings right now, even Lebron. Like Lebron,
Speaker 1: there was a big play at the end of the
Speaker 1: game where John missed two free throws and he got
Speaker 1: beat under the basket on a box out by Steven Adams.
Speaker 1: But like Steven Adams outweighs Lebron by like forty pounds.
Speaker 1: So the truth of the matter is is that's a
Speaker 1: tough matchup for Lebron. That's in that in an ideal situation,
Speaker 1: that's Anthony Davis trying to box him out there, right
Speaker 1: So the point the point is is like some of
Speaker 1: this we can expect, but when you willingly play Carmelo
Speaker 1: Anthony at center to end the end the third, that's
Speaker 1: self sabotage. When you willingly go into crunch time with
Speaker 1: th Ht on the floor and Mellow who can't make
Speaker 1: a shot to save his life. This is a whole
Speaker 1: other topic, but Mellow has been playing bad basketball for
Speaker 1: the better part of a month now. Last night, Total
Speaker 1: Outlier Mellow has been massively regressing defensively and he's not
Speaker 1: making shots anymore, tweeted out this recent stretch of game,
Speaker 1: He's below from three, so a lot of that has
Speaker 1: to do with the personnel situation and guys having to
Speaker 1: do more. But you didn't have to play Mellow there
Speaker 1: that could have been Stanley. You didn't have to play
Speaker 1: th HD there with the closers that could have been
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley that you know, you didn't have to play
Speaker 1: Mellow at center and the third that could have been Dwight.
Speaker 1: So if we're going to have our best opportunity to
Speaker 1: get wins over the course of this next you know,
Speaker 1: month or so without Anthony Davis, we have to at
Speaker 1: least get ourselves in a position where we're at the
Speaker 1: best possible version of what we're putting out on the floor,
Speaker 1: and when we're deliberately undercutting ourselves with some poor decision making.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a lot of nights like this that
Speaker 1: should have been kind of night. It's kind of like Chicago,
Speaker 1: kind of like Tonight games or the efforts there. You know,
Speaker 1: you get just otherworldly performance out of Lebron and it's
Speaker 1: just not enough, and that's extremely frustrated. Yeah, And to
Speaker 1: be fair to fit is like this is definitely like nitpicking,
Speaker 1: Like I think he actually coached a really good game tonight.
Speaker 1: Other than those minutes. But it's just tough, man, because
Speaker 1: we started Dwight Howard Tonight in you know, in place
Speaker 1: just to win those Steven Adams minutes right to when
Speaker 1: the box out minutes where Lebron wanna have to be
Speaker 1: that guy. And I would have loved to see Dwight
Speaker 1: kind of mirror I guess Adams minutes, even especially a
Speaker 1: night where he's playing well. I think he had four fouls.
Speaker 1: UM picked up a lot of them on John Moran
Speaker 1: as well when John tried to get it going. But
Speaker 1: I thought he was just really good. He was had
Speaker 1: his verticality going, moving his feet as well. That's not
Speaker 1: only I guess Nippig because it was just really tough
Speaker 1: to survive, especially when Carmelo. You talked about him shooting
Speaker 1: under thirty percent recently, Like to me, like again, we're
Speaker 1: playing him just a ship ton of minutes right now,
Speaker 1: we don't have another forward. Maybe Stanley Johnson can play
Speaker 1: more than twenty two minutes. I would have loved to
Speaker 1: flip that. I would have love to have Stanley Johnson
Speaker 1: played thirty minutes UM and then Carmelo play around twenty two,
Speaker 1: especially if you can kind of go as the game
Speaker 1: is going, the flow of the game, right, Carmelo just
Speaker 1: didn't have his shot going. And I said, tonight and
Speaker 1: other nights where if Carmelo is not you know, Inferno,
Speaker 1: which he has been for a lot of games. He's
Speaker 1: saved the lagers for a lot of games this season,
Speaker 1: to give him credit, But if he's not Inferno, then
Speaker 1: you know, those Carmel at the five line ups were
Speaker 1: just really tough to survive. And that was a struggle, uh,
Speaker 1: for this night and nights going forward until hopefully the
Speaker 1: Reeves gets back the next night. I think he's he
Speaker 1: exited COVID protocols as well, based Moore as well, but
Speaker 1: just to get them to having one of the reefs
Speaker 1: or reads of time would have been great, just to
Speaker 1: limit those minutes. But yeah, and I thought that's where
Speaker 1: this game was lost. Memphis is a damn good team.
Speaker 1: Like this is not something you know to go cry about,
Speaker 1: Like Memphis is a great team. They're playing at home.
Speaker 1: You talked about the wins that they have on this season,
Speaker 1: but this game was there for the taking. Even with
Speaker 1: John Marant, you know, as hot as he was, with
Speaker 1: Lebron playing at you know, best player in the world,
Speaker 1: level thirty seven minutes to night on a back to
Speaker 1: back eight of four team from three, like you just
Speaker 1: don't want to I wouldn't say waste, but I mean
Speaker 1: you're getting that kind of production from your best player,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. Again we disagree on you know, how he
Speaker 1: played tonight. I thought he played pretty well, but I
Speaker 1: mean the numbers aren't there are sixteen points, twelve rebound,
Speaker 1: twelve assists, ten rebounds, Like you get that production as
Speaker 1: well um five turnovers, which you know still probably a
Speaker 1: little higher than you want, but still like I thought
Speaker 1: you played enough to where you could win. It's just
Speaker 1: those minutes. Man, you build that four team point lead,
Speaker 1: you want some kind of cushion. And with Lebron coming back,
Speaker 1: and Lebron came back, and the game was I think
Speaker 1: it was a three point game or something, and then
Speaker 1: they had to one floater by John Rant one floater
Speaker 1: by Tayas Jones, and to me, the game was over there.
Speaker 1: I didn't think we could, you know, re re get
Speaker 1: that like control, especially with the crowd into it. And
Speaker 1: Memphis is just a solid team. Their physicality took over
Speaker 1: as well. Um late in that game, desmit Vane, all
Speaker 1: those guys really defend at a super high level. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's why it's so frustrating tonight because I thought
Speaker 1: this was a winnable game. We're in win collection mode
Speaker 1: right here, where like if you have a chance, like
Speaker 1: if this game was over by the third, like I
Speaker 1: would understand, But this is a winnable game. And like
Speaker 1: all those caveats about Memphis, you know, being a really
Speaker 1: good team are true, but this was this is a
Speaker 1: game for a taking that you lost, and you can't
Speaker 1: do that as a team that's you know, game two
Speaker 1: games over. I agree with you, and I see a
Speaker 1: lot of people talking about what he staid Lebron James performances,
Speaker 1: and I tend to go the other way with that. Um,
Speaker 1: as long as he doesn't get hurt, which is obviously
Speaker 1: a risk when you have him taking on this kind
Speaker 1: of workload, as long as he doesn't get hurt, I
Speaker 1: tend to go Lebron looking this great is absolutely good news,
Speaker 1: and there's no other way to interpret it. Because, as
Speaker 1: we know, the number one based formula for bigger team
Speaker 1: being able to compete with the Phoenixes and the Golden
Speaker 1: States and the Brooklyn's and the Milwaukee's of the world
Speaker 1: is for Lebron and Anthony Davis to be top five players.
Speaker 1: And right now, Lebron looks every bit as good anybody
Speaker 1: else that's in the league right now, and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: has not been that guy, but right now he has
Speaker 1: some time to step away from the game, to get
Speaker 1: right physically, to figure out whatever that is and try
Speaker 1: to get back to that level. So I know it's
Speaker 1: extremely frustrating these performances feel wasted, But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, the way I look at it is,
Speaker 1: this is Lavron learning to play a new style of
Speaker 1: offense with this group, a different style of offense that
Speaker 1: he's played then he's played in the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: And as long as he stays healthy, so as long
Speaker 1: as he's listening to his bodies and make your body
Speaker 1: and making the right decision on that front, I look
Speaker 1: at it is nothing but good news. But I wanted
Speaker 1: to move on to Russ, So you and I got
Speaker 1: into a conversation at the end of the pod yesterday
Speaker 1: talking about Russ and you know his press conference recently
Speaker 1: where he seemed to be focused on the wrong things,
Speaker 1: and it was frustrating for me. Hearing that press conference,
Speaker 1: because my number one concern with russ is is for
Speaker 1: him to understand that the most important thing he could
Speaker 1: do for this team is not sabotage. Then that's the
Speaker 1: most important thing he could do. And as long as
Speaker 1: he understands where he fits in the picture of this
Speaker 1: team when it's healthy, and can control his ugliest urges,
Speaker 1: then that makes me feel optimistic because he does bring
Speaker 1: a lot of good to the table. To me, he's
Speaker 1: a textbook good play, bad play kind of guy, and
Speaker 1: you in theory, over the course of the meat and
Speaker 1: potatoes of the season, you just want more good plays
Speaker 1: than bad plays. Then then you could say okay, net positive.
Speaker 1: But when we're in crunch time, when we're in these
Speaker 1: big moments, when you're playing good teams in game situations,
Speaker 1: every bad play is catastrophic. And for him to have
Speaker 1: made the mistake he made the other night trying to
Speaker 1: turn over that dunk against Brooklyn and smoking it off
Speaker 1: the front of the rim, and then to come into
Speaker 1: tonight's game in a critical possession, Lebron just hit a
Speaker 1: massive three at the top of the key to get
Speaker 1: you back to or to get you back with the three.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what the score was, but they were
Speaker 1: back within three. And then you get a stop and
Speaker 1: you're running out in transition, and he tried to turn
Speaker 1: over a transition lay up attempt into a dunk again,
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Like? That is him telling me
Speaker 1: he is incapable of learning his lesson, Like, how is
Speaker 1: it that after that massive stage on Christmas Day when
Speaker 1: you made the exact same mistake, you didn't learn your lesson?
Speaker 1: He literally turned that over like he was gonna dunk it,
Speaker 1: and then at the last second realized he wasn't high
Speaker 1: enough and tried to go back and finger roll it.
Speaker 1: That is inexcusable mistake. And you know, our friend Jason Maples,
Speaker 1: he tweeted out right after the game, He's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta get off of Russell Westbrook. You can't beat
Speaker 1: the good teams with this guy. Now. I'm not there
Speaker 1: yet neither, but there is an absolute truth to the
Speaker 1: fact that if he can't control himself in late game
Speaker 1: situations with his decision making, it will get this team beat.
Speaker 1: Because even if Lebron and a d are at their
Speaker 1: absolute best and everything clicks and you make it to
Speaker 1: the Western Conference Finals and you're playing Phoenix or you're
Speaker 1: playing Golden State or you're playing Utah, it's going to
Speaker 1: be close, and a couple of errors like that will
Speaker 1: get you beat. And I just I it's like I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe what I was watching when he did that
Speaker 1: again tonight, I couldn't believe it to be fair to
Speaker 1: that like particular play that was different at least to me, Like, again,
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss the lay of you know,
Speaker 1: late game situation, but that was at least, you know,
Speaker 1: open floor transition, Like I think the Brooklyn one was
Speaker 1: like more in a more in a half core kind
Speaker 1: of situation, right, he had a close out opportunity, you're
Speaker 1: more in a half gay situation. In transition, he has
Speaker 1: a full you know, head of steam. He's already picked
Speaker 1: up momentum, he's already you know, on the way there
Speaker 1: to the basket. Like that's a little different to me,
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean by that? Like I don't,
Speaker 1: I don't put those two in the same do But
Speaker 1: the decision, the decision to attempts to dunk that basketball
Speaker 1: when when a layup he would have absolutely made, to me,
Speaker 1: is the problem? Sure? Okay? So like so do you
Speaker 1: you don't think he played well tonight? I guess right,
Speaker 1: like just in in a hole because like to me,
Speaker 1: I thought he had a good floor game, Like yeah,
Speaker 1: I think three turnovers with like the game again that
Speaker 1: that layoup in transition is going to be plastered everywhere.
Speaker 1: That's going to make a couple of ugly turnovers in
Speaker 1: the fourth too. Ros Sure, I understand he did it
Speaker 1: during that time, but you know, I thought the whole
Speaker 1: team kind of played bad. I thought the wall is
Speaker 1: kind of being built on them, that you can feel
Speaker 1: the Memphis avalanche coming right. The Memphis physicality definitely picked up.
Speaker 1: Memphis definitely figured out like hey, we can win this game,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like they definitely found out
Speaker 1: once they took that lead. To me, the game was over.
Speaker 1: But like for the most parts, and I thought Russ
Speaker 1: had a good floor game, Like he had a bunch
Speaker 1: of players. I have my notes here, like one of
Speaker 1: them he went into the paint, he slowed down. They
Speaker 1: we spanned this like we spun this Lebron Dwight. Uh
Speaker 1: you know double double screen pick and roll? Did you
Speaker 1: see that? Like we spanned that play a bunch of times.
Speaker 1: It was like Lebron and Dwight screening for Russ and
Speaker 1: just made his decision making a little bit easier. You
Speaker 1: had a Lebron popping and Dwight rolling, and he found
Speaker 1: Dwight on a few lobs. He bade Adams a few times.
Speaker 1: Like I thought, his floor game was fine tonight. And
Speaker 1: again the numbers are what they are. You can kind
Speaker 1: of calm with you know the impact of them. But sixteen,
Speaker 1: twelve and ten, like you're getting that out of your
Speaker 1: who's supposed to be your third, you know, third option here,
Speaker 1: Like I think that's enough against a really good Memphis team.
Speaker 1: There were some bad turnovers for sure, not just from him,
Speaker 1: from Carmelo Anthony as well. There were just some bad
Speaker 1: passes that you know you're gonna get with Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: when you up his usages like this. But I think
Speaker 1: the mislayup is going to construte a lot of what
Speaker 1: I thought was good basketball from him tonight against a
Speaker 1: really good defensive Memphis team. Like I thought he created shots.
Speaker 1: He had a bunch of these, like in air passes
Speaker 1: where he changed his mind mid air and then switched
Speaker 1: to the corner on point to like Malikue Monk or
Speaker 1: two other guys David Bradley on one play when we
Speaker 1: were building our leads, Like, I want to give him
Speaker 1: at least credit for that. The late game stuff is
Speaker 1: what it is. We've we've talked about this at nauseum,
Speaker 1: Like the late game stuff should be Lebron a guard
Speaker 1: screen pick and roll, or Lebron a d pick and roll,
Speaker 1: or you know, Lebron making two decisions, whether it's in
Speaker 1: the post um and all that. But like I understand
Speaker 1: the misslayoup was tough, and Lebron just hit a super
Speaker 1: jab step break rhythm jumper to put us I think
Speaker 1: within three, and we have to turnover Russ, you know,
Speaker 1: in transition couldn't decide if he was gonna one hand
Speaker 1: slam it, which he's probably done three d fifty million
Speaker 1: times in his career, and he's like, oh, I just
Speaker 1: don't have that last little lift, and I decided to
Speaker 1: finger roll it and it missed there. But I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, overall, do you do you disagree with that? Though?
Speaker 1: With his floor game, I guess for the rest of
Speaker 1: the game, take away that fourth quarter. I know you
Speaker 1: can't really do that in basketball, but like, do you
Speaker 1: agree with the rest of the game in terms of
Speaker 1: just what you kind of want to see from him
Speaker 1: on a night tonight basis, in terms of decision making, Yeah, well, Roger,
Speaker 1: you're right, he had a lot of good moments tonight.
Speaker 1: But what did I tell you after the Brooklyn game.
Speaker 1: I told you he would do the same thing if
Speaker 1: he was twelve or twenty. That's what I told you.
Speaker 1: This is the Russ experience against Brooklyn on Christmas Day.
Speaker 1: It was especially horrifying because he also was actively point
Speaker 1: shaving the entire game. Okay, tonight tonight was more of
Speaker 1: what I'm afraid of. Even if everything goes right, even
Speaker 1: if everything clicks, even if he's in that tertiary role
Speaker 1: behind Lebron and a d even if he plays great
Speaker 1: all game, what is there that makes you think he
Speaker 1: won't try to turn it over and dunk in a
Speaker 1: late game possession like that in the playoffs. That's That's
Speaker 1: where I'm coming from here, And and this is where,
Speaker 1: like again a couple of weeks ago, if I to
Speaker 1: see the tweet like what our friend Jason Maple said,
Speaker 1: I would have been like, come on, man, get out
Speaker 1: of here. But like the the reason why I'm even
Speaker 1: entertaining it is that the reason why I'm even entertaining
Speaker 1: the idea that the Lakers need to get off of
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook is this ship will get them beat. It
Speaker 1: will get them beat, and I don't and like, even
Speaker 1: though it would be a catastrophe of a trade, because
Speaker 1: now you're turning KCP and Kyle Kuzma and Montrez Harrold
Speaker 1: into salary filler. Get yeah, you're you're absolutely right about that.
Speaker 1: But the only, but the only reason I'm even considering
Speaker 1: it is because this will get them beat. And I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't see. I just don't see any way or
Speaker 1: anything that could happen over the course of the next
Speaker 1: few months that would change my fear of that type
Speaker 1: of outcome. Well, but what happened is what we've seen
Speaker 1: in some other you know, late game when the team
Speaker 1: was healthy, right, we we've seen it against Remember that
Speaker 1: you posted that video when we beat the Calves, right
Speaker 1: and that you know that went over. The Calves is
Speaker 1: actually looking a lot better and better as we move
Speaker 1: into the season. They just lost Ruby r Ricky Rubio,
Speaker 1: which sucks, but they're a really good team and we
Speaker 1: beat them earlier in the year before they kind of
Speaker 1: built their momentum. But you know the late game, what
Speaker 1: was that? That was just Lebron. You know, straight screen roll,
Speaker 1: straight pick and roll. He gets to the side where
Speaker 1: the ball goes. I believe Russ was in the dunker
Speaker 1: spot for a lot of that, or Russ was you know,
Speaker 1: on the week side kind of where where it's tougher
Speaker 1: to help. He got ever mobili on switches, drive to
Speaker 1: the basket, someone someone helps he get he kicks it out.
Speaker 1: Like to me, that's more what we'll see. And I
Speaker 1: talked about this last night as well. Tempering Russ is
Speaker 1: just not the way you go with this, like you know,
Speaker 1: to me, it's just taking down his usage and possessions,
Speaker 1: which will naturally happen to me when the team gets healthy,
Speaker 1: when Anthony Davis is back. Like this, this type of
Speaker 1: stuff you kind of have to just live with. Like
Speaker 1: the late game situation stuff is what it is. I'd
Speaker 1: like to see him more as a screener. I think
Speaker 1: playing him next to Teach. We are closing lineup tonight
Speaker 1: with him next to HD. I don't remember if Avery
Speaker 1: Bradley was on the floor as well, but just mellow,
Speaker 1: mellow Lebron and then of Russ and Bradley, I think, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm just one, but I think it was
Speaker 1: two nonshooters as well. Next to it where and he
Speaker 1: talked about how Memphis you know, didn't close out to
Speaker 1: him in the corner. I still would have liked to
Speaker 1: see um them swing it to us, have him kind
Speaker 1: of attack a defense that's in rotation. I still think
Speaker 1: that's I still think that's a threat, you know, even
Speaker 1: late game, even with his high levels decision making, I
Speaker 1: still think a defense closing out to him is a threat.
Speaker 1: It's how we got the Austin Reeves game winner as well.
Speaker 1: But yeah, man, that late game stuff is kind of
Speaker 1: it is like the bigger picture of the process stuff
Speaker 1: tonight with stuff I want to see from him when
Speaker 1: the team's healthy, in control, slowing down in the in
Speaker 1: the paint, you know law passes, which stuff that he's
Speaker 1: good at, that he's done at for his career. The
Speaker 1: you know, dunks turning into layups is him kind of
Speaker 1: facing mortality. To me, We'll see if how that works
Speaker 1: as the season goes. U you don't want to see
Speaker 1: him mislayups. I heard the Memphis broadcast today I don't
Speaker 1: know if you were listening to the Memphis podcast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're really good. Um, they were talking about how
Speaker 1: Russ leads the league in layup attempts. That yeah, attempt
Speaker 1: I think it was. It was attempts or makes. They
Speaker 1: said lead the leads and lay up. So I don't
Speaker 1: remember if its attempts or makes, but I mean, still
Speaker 1: lead the league in layups is something, you know at
Speaker 1: the guard position, Like, I think that's something big. He
Speaker 1: had one play tonight where I think it was on
Speaker 1: the play where he you know, I saw it against
Speaker 1: Brandon Brandon Clark and then did a nice you know
Speaker 1: lay up kind of worth Clark contesting, and they said
Speaker 1: that he leaves the league in layup, so he's getting
Speaker 1: to the basket at least, and like that's the process stuff.
Speaker 1: I want to see. Lay game stuff is what it is.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's tough. It's not gonna be easy, especially
Speaker 1: with a d out for this long, Like he's going
Speaker 1: to have lake game possessions to kind of control high
Speaker 1: level situations. It's just you kind of got to live
Speaker 1: with and you know, entertaining Russ trades. To me, it's
Speaker 1: just so like it makes no sense. Russ is not
Speaker 1: going anywhere like that. He's just not like entertaining Russ trades.
Speaker 1: To me, I get tweeted and I'm sure you do
Speaker 1: too in my d M s and even on the timeline,
Speaker 1: what do you think about this Russ trade with Like
Speaker 1: none of these are happening, Like he's like he's on
Speaker 1: the team for this full season, like he just is,
Speaker 1: and we kind of have to accept that and try
Speaker 1: to maneuver around that. So I agree with you. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, like the reason why my brain even allows,
Speaker 1: like the reason why I even allow myself to think
Speaker 1: in that direction is because of this recent stretch. But
Speaker 1: I mean, dude, I'm aware of all the good that
Speaker 1: he brings, Like rim pressure has not been the issue
Speaker 1: with Rust this year, you know, Like ironically, jump shooting
Speaker 1: hasn't even been the issue with Rust this year, at
Speaker 1: least off the ball. I would say that he's like
Speaker 1: they're still are way too many possessions every game where
Speaker 1: he'll get the inbounds pass, bring the ball up the floor,
Speaker 1: call for a ball screen, and shoot a pull a
Speaker 1: jump shot with like twelve seconds on the shock walk,
Speaker 1: And I'm literally like that should never ever be in
Speaker 1: our offense. You know that I go in though the
Speaker 1: little yes, but again I I just I think of
Speaker 1: Lakers are are taking a gamble here and it could
Speaker 1: pay off. You know, there are all these jokes before
Speaker 1: the season, Oh, Lebron's the goat if he gets Westbrook
Speaker 1: a ring, and it's it's it's true, Like, yes, there's
Speaker 1: the scenario where this works out, where you end up
Speaker 1: on the biggest stage and Russ actually does a good
Speaker 1: amount of mismatch mismatch hunting. And you know, he had
Speaker 1: a couple of really nice defensive sequences against John Morant
Speaker 1: at the end of the game, and like, again, if
Speaker 1: you could bottle that stuff up, it would be amazing.
Speaker 1: Like if I could care, if I could say, hey,
Speaker 1: like I can stick Russ on all the best point
Speaker 1: guards in the league and he's gonna get awesome isolation
Speaker 1: defense and caused him to have rush it frustrating nights.
Speaker 1: Then man, this this looks totally different. But you and
Speaker 1: I both know that's just not the case. Those sequences
Speaker 1: like the one against job there at the end of
Speaker 1: the game are the exception. They're not the normal, and
Speaker 1: so it's just it is what it is. I'm with you,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be around the rest of the season. In
Speaker 1: all likelihood, it's too us. What what we've seen in
Speaker 1: the last week is a great example of what I
Speaker 1: described coming into this season as my fear with Ross,
Speaker 1: which had nothing to do with the fit, nothing to
Speaker 1: do with his perimeter shooting, everything to do with his
Speaker 1: basketball i Q or lack thereof, and and how I
Speaker 1: thought that that could be fatal in in the right situation.
Speaker 1: But I mean, we can move on from Russ now.
Speaker 1: I just I wanted to get that off my chest
Speaker 1: because it's been us. It's last thing on the rust thing.
Speaker 1: Like I think our perception of it, our whole perception
Speaker 1: kind of changes because the Lakers record is what it is,
Speaker 1: right where two games under five hundred. So every mistake,
Speaker 1: every turn over, every mislayout, you know, every you know,
Speaker 1: small screen that leads into like a layout that he
Speaker 1: thinks he gets fouled and the ball just goes over
Speaker 1: the room, like all that is accentuated because the Lakers
Speaker 1: are two games over five hundred. And I'm kind of
Speaker 1: thinking the Lebron at center lineups are killing, like they're
Speaker 1: destroying teams, right and we're like plus twenty. I think
Speaker 1: in those lineups, Rush is on the floor for a
Speaker 1: lot of those as well. It's not just Lebron, Lebron
Speaker 1: and Russ and you know, Lebron at center, Russ Russ
Speaker 1: and those lines are doing well. And I just wonder
Speaker 1: if our perception of this team would be different, Like
Speaker 1: if we started the season off, maybe DeAndre Jordan doesn't
Speaker 1: start twenty plus games, right, maybe it's you know, maybe
Speaker 1: we do go smaller earlier. Maybe you know, we're able
Speaker 1: to play at a fastest speed earlier, that kind of
Speaker 1: exceptions what the roster needs and we're like twenty and
Speaker 1: I can't really do math right now, but for like
Speaker 1: five six games over five, maybe like the view of
Speaker 1: us is a little bit different if we're not at
Speaker 1: this page. I just think every game now everything's such
Speaker 1: a bigger deal because of where we are in the standing.
Speaker 1: So that's my last thing on this is that, like
Speaker 1: I think if the lines were a little bit better,
Speaker 1: maybe earlier in the year, maybe if a reason is
Speaker 1: out and we sub him with like a wing instead
Speaker 1: of just going fully into the two big directions that
Speaker 1: we decided to go in, maybe the view on him
Speaker 1: is a little different. The games are frustrating, the miss dunks,
Speaker 1: the mislayops are all super frustrating. But I just think
Speaker 1: like that would kind of change the person section and
Speaker 1: change all these you know, trade scenarios that are that
Speaker 1: come up, that come up after we game. So I'm
Speaker 1: I would push back on that a little bit here
Speaker 1: because it wasn't the whole purpose for sacrificing the depth
Speaker 1: to have Russ be capable of carrying the team and
Speaker 1: stretches when Asara is missing for one reason or another.
Speaker 1: And I mean, i'm the way the season gone has
Speaker 1: has gone in terms of injuries and luck is what
Speaker 1: it is. I actually was thinking about this earlier today
Speaker 1: because there are a lot of like silver linings here
Speaker 1: because it was clear, it was clear that the Lakers
Speaker 1: when they signed DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard, that they
Speaker 1: still had this Lakers type of ideology for their you know,
Speaker 1: their identity, and ironically, all of this cascade of injuries
Speaker 1: has forced them to play small and now they're seeing
Speaker 1: all of this offensive success and it's kind of they
Speaker 1: basically tripped and fallen on accident into the best version
Speaker 1: of themselves offensively. And we talked a lot about this
Speaker 1: in our last parts. We won't go any further into it,
Speaker 1: but like, five out basketball is just the way you
Speaker 1: succeed in the modern NBA, and Anthony Davis can play
Speaker 1: five out basketball. So this, this system they tripped and
Speaker 1: fell in, is good. Even a step further Stanley Johnson, Like,
Speaker 1: we probably have no chance of getting Stanley Johnson on
Speaker 1: the roster if we stay healthy. My guess is, you
Speaker 1: know reasons in that role, they if everything goes well,
Speaker 1: maybe they don't consider trading tailing at the deadline. And
Speaker 1: it's just kind of more or less this. There might
Speaker 1: be a moment in the playoffs where we're rocking to
Speaker 1: line up with Lebron the reason and Stanley Johnson on
Speaker 1: the floor, and that just doesn't happen unless we get
Speaker 1: completely railroaded by COVID. So I'm with you in the
Speaker 1: in the sense that there's a silver lining to some
Speaker 1: of the way that this went over the course at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the season that said, like, this was
Speaker 1: the whole point of giving up a legit fifth star
Speaker 1: in KCP and a legit bench wing in Kyle Kuzma
Speaker 1: and Montraz Harold would take him or leave him But
Speaker 1: the point is is that you were hoping, I think,
Speaker 1: and I think who I think, if cooler heads were
Speaker 1: available at the moment, they would have realized, like, hey,
Speaker 1: Russ really isn't that guy anymore. He's not the guy
Speaker 1: that can carry you for stretches like this, And so fundamentally,
Speaker 1: when they made that decision, you know, it just I
Speaker 1: just didn't. I I that was why I disagreed with
Speaker 1: it in the moment. And I know Lebron loves back
Speaker 1: up playmaking and that's something that he's always placed a
Speaker 1: great deal of value on, but it just would have
Speaker 1: made more sense to do it with someone like Hollison,
Speaker 1: you know, or trying to find somebody like that out
Speaker 1: there that can make plays that you didn't have to
Speaker 1: sacrifice your depth for. And and and and it is
Speaker 1: what it is because like you can even take it
Speaker 1: a step further to trade flexibility and the fact that
Speaker 1: they don't really have a lot of options this deadline,
Speaker 1: aside from you know, th HT and none in hopes
Speaker 1: of pulling back somebody in that twenty million dollar range.
Speaker 1: But it just you know, if Russ had, to your point, Raj,
Speaker 1: if Russ was the Russ that I think rob Polinka
Speaker 1: and Lebron thought he would be they wouldn't be seventeen
Speaker 1: and nineteen, they'd be fifteen or something because Russ would
Speaker 1: have been able to carry the weight when Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: went down or when Lebron went down, And so that
Speaker 1: that's where, that's where if I'm a Laker fan, I'm
Speaker 1: looking at this like, hey, guys, what the hell? You
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Well, I mean, relitigating the Rush
Speaker 1: trade is always tough. But like to me, like, even
Speaker 1: if we're fully healthy, I guess, and we still go
Speaker 1: to two big lineup, but we saw what that did
Speaker 1: for us, And you're right, Russ is not that guy.
Speaker 1: He's not the m v P guy. But I said,
Speaker 1: you know, five games into this season, this season is about,
Speaker 1: you know, acquiescing to Russ, making sure lineups are conductive
Speaker 1: to him. And I think we're starting to see at
Speaker 1: least a little bit of that um like going down
Speaker 1: a d going down would have hurt this team anyway.
Speaker 1: Like to me, I don't know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: many you know games that flips with Russ and Lebron
Speaker 1: missing as many times as he did, right, Lebron missed.
Speaker 1: I think two or three weeks. Like this team was
Speaker 1: built around those three being able to carry, because that's
Speaker 1: what you do when you have a team full of
Speaker 1: minimum guys. Plus you know, Taylor Horton Tucker, who's kind
Speaker 1: of taking a step back due to situation, also confident,
Speaker 1: all the stuff that we've kind of litigated, you know,
Speaker 1: back and forth. And our other non minimum guy, Kendrick Nunn,
Speaker 1: hasn't played a single second in the regular season. So
Speaker 1: you're filled with minimum guys, Russ and A D particular,
Speaker 1: we're supposed to take over the non Lebron minutes. And
Speaker 1: I do think, you know, Russ a D as a
Speaker 1: combo should have been able to probably win a couple
Speaker 1: more games, and then they did when lebronos out. But
Speaker 1: that's neither here and there, so it's tough to kind
Speaker 1: of again, these are all situational stuff that we can't
Speaker 1: really get into. The lineup stuff is always frustrating league
Speaker 1: Monk probably should have been playing more earlier in the year. Um,
Speaker 1: all that stuff is into it. But we are starting
Speaker 1: to get to a good team, Like you can start
Speaker 1: to see a good team here, and I think that's
Speaker 1: the positive. I guess you can take but you're right, man,
Speaker 1: it's it's been rough. It's not been a clean season.
Speaker 1: You're when you're two games under five hundred, there's issues
Speaker 1: that are all around. But yeah, relay again. The RST
Speaker 1: trade is is really tough for me, I guess because
Speaker 1: you can kind of see what they were going for
Speaker 1: even if we disagree. I think both of us were
Speaker 1: still kind of you know, unsure about it, uh when
Speaker 1: it happened, but you kind of see what they're kind
Speaker 1: of going for. And I think you're starting to see
Speaker 1: at least bits and pieces of that media day. Man.
Speaker 1: I keep going back to this. We were sold this,
Speaker 1: you know this a d at the five with Wayne
Speaker 1: Ellington and Trevor Ariza and then a reason's injury really
Speaker 1: and Wayne I think was out as well for yeah,
Speaker 1: and so instead of you know, trying to find fast
Speaker 1: facility whatever familiar players like them to put in that lineup,
Speaker 1: we just went with a totally other identity, which was
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan's starting for so many games, anton Or Trucker,
Speaker 1: who who eventually gotten the starting line up but every
Speaker 1: badly essentially filling the shooter role when he's not essentially
Speaker 1: a shooter, even though he's shooting well for the season.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I digress, like, that's kind of that's kind
Speaker 1: of where we went. We put twenty games into that,
Speaker 1: and so now we're kind of starting the uptick into
Speaker 1: what we're going to become. It's gonna take time, but yeah,
Speaker 1: and I was frustrating the man. That's a I was
Speaker 1: a tough loss. But I don't even know where I
Speaker 1: was going with this anymore. Let's yeah, so let's let's
Speaker 1: finish with this. Let's finish with moving forward for the
Speaker 1: next month. How would you structure not not every inch
Speaker 1: of the lineup obviously, but the front court in particular,
Speaker 1: how would you structure that moving forward until Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: comes back in terms of the rotation, like who would
Speaker 1: you have on the floor? Wind? Yeah, so, I mean
Speaker 1: I think some games Dowight is definitely gonna start due
Speaker 1: to just big man, even though I don't think there
Speaker 1: are that many big men now in the league that
Speaker 1: would give Lebron too much issues. But I would like
Speaker 1: to stagger right and Lebron at least until our wings
Speaker 1: come back. If reeese reevee can't really play center, but
Speaker 1: just until we get some more of those wings back.
Speaker 1: I would like to kind of stagger those two at least,
Speaker 1: um just to go away from the because I feel
Speaker 1: like all this team is kind of missing is those
Speaker 1: a few minutes where we play Mellow at the five,
Speaker 1: And to me, those are just unsurvivable. We've seen that
Speaker 1: against Houston last night. We've seen it actually all season.
Speaker 1: Look at them. Look at the numbers when mellows at
Speaker 1: the five, they just kind of burned points and teams,
Speaker 1: you know, see that as a layuplind to the rim.
Speaker 1: I don't know how really structure the minutes that way THHD.
Speaker 1: I think coming off the bench is nice, Like I
Speaker 1: think that's helped, you know, that helps the kind of
Speaker 1: the team flow when the games start. But oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's he's completely gone mentally on the offensive end
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, he's in a real struggle. He had
Speaker 1: a one on one against like desmc bane in transition
Speaker 1: and absolutely had no clue what he wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Flipped up a like no, looker, yeah no, look. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh man, Taylor is gone, because that used
Speaker 1: to be a power, you know, through through guys and
Speaker 1: one finishing out. Yeah for sure. But yeah, I would
Speaker 1: love to stagger kind of Lebron and why just to
Speaker 1: take away some of those mellow at the five minutes. Um.
Speaker 1: I know that kind of hurts Russ because Russ leads
Speaker 1: a lot of those second units, so it kind of
Speaker 1: takes some space away from him him. But I thought
Speaker 1: Russ and Dwight Man had some nice chemistry tonight. Like
Speaker 1: again I talked about that play. We spammed Rose, Russell,
Speaker 1: Lebron and Dwight running like stagger screens for Russ where
Speaker 1: he can kind of make decisions off that. I thought
Speaker 1: that looked good and rust with some shooting. He had
Speaker 1: some passes to shooters tonight in the corner that we're nice.
Speaker 1: But I would I would just stag to those two,
Speaker 1: like that's all we can really do right now. Those
Speaker 1: those mellow at the five minutes are killing us, And
Speaker 1: I thought it killed us tonight. Um. I thought even
Speaker 1: against Houston, we had a little bit of a lead,
Speaker 1: we went to mellow at the five and teams just
Speaker 1: attack us relentlessly at that free to advantage again a
Speaker 1: lot for Memphis. I think it was like twenty five
Speaker 1: to eight. But yeah, that's what I would do. How
Speaker 1: about you, man, what would what would you kind of
Speaker 1: do with the forward big minute rotation because I think
Speaker 1: John J. Jordan's definitely not saying yeah, he's done, and
Speaker 1: that might lead to what I think is their next
Speaker 1: roster move. Honestly, like, that's just kind of how I
Speaker 1: see this this going. But what would you kind of
Speaker 1: do with the center forward rotation so staggering Dwight and
Speaker 1: Lebron It should have been the biggest no brainer that
Speaker 1: this coaching staff has ever had to decide. That is
Speaker 1: definitely a confusing um decision tonight to bring Dwight back
Speaker 1: into the rotation, but then to also have minutes with
Speaker 1: Dwight and Lebron off that was genuinely confounding. You know,
Speaker 1: But I look at it like this, When you go small,
Speaker 1: I think having more big forwards on the floor becomes
Speaker 1: absolutely imperative. And you know, I need to dig into
Speaker 1: the numbers after the all up date, but my guess
Speaker 1: is lineups that have had Lebron and Stanley Johnson on
Speaker 1: the floor have done well. And the reason why is
Speaker 1: because when you get a couple of those guys flying around,
Speaker 1: it kind of generates the same type of defensive disruption
Speaker 1: that one really big guy does. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: so I the way I look at it is that
Speaker 1: we have Dwight, who's kind of like the odd man
Speaker 1: out here in the front court in terms of his style.
Speaker 1: But then the rest of the three, four or five
Speaker 1: minutes have to be taken up by Lebron, a Resa
Speaker 1: Mellow and Austin Reeves. And so what I would in
Speaker 1: Instanley Johnson, So what I would do as I would
Speaker 1: try to have two of the more athletic guys on
Speaker 1: the floor at all times. So never go with like
Speaker 1: Mellow and Reeves, because if you have Mellow and Reeves
Speaker 1: on the floor run in the front court at the
Speaker 1: same time, then now your biggest players on the floor
Speaker 1: are just too slow and too small, you know. But
Speaker 1: like if you could always have on a Reason on
Speaker 1: the floor, on Stanley Johnson on the floor, Lebron on
Speaker 1: the floor, you know, with those guys, then you have
Speaker 1: that baseline level of athleticism. So if you are going
Speaker 1: to force a Carmelow at the five lineup, which who knows,
Speaker 1: maybe that's the way they see it, then it needs
Speaker 1: to be Mellow at the five alongside a Reason and Reeves,
Speaker 1: you know, two guys that are going to do a
Speaker 1: lot of the dirty work that mellows unwilling to do.
Speaker 1: Two guys that will put their bodies on the line
Speaker 1: to get in front of guys barreling through the lane
Speaker 1: and things along those lines. But you know, I've been
Speaker 1: talking a lot over the course of the last week
Speaker 1: that you know, Austin Reeves and Trevor Reason are two
Speaker 1: best defensive forwards not named Lebron in a D. So
Speaker 1: they're absolutely, you know, incredibly important to this team and
Speaker 1: just being functional. And and that's why you've seen Stanley
Speaker 1: Johnson do so well is because he's really the only
Speaker 1: guy on the roster now not named Lebron who can
Speaker 1: do that stuff because of COVID. So now with everybody
Speaker 1: coming back, we can get that same invigorating feel that
Speaker 1: we get from Stanley Johnson plugged into a lineup. We
Speaker 1: can get that all the time with combinations of Stanley
Speaker 1: and Lebron and combinations of a Reason Reeves and mixing
Speaker 1: that up in a bunch of different ways. But I think,
Speaker 1: I think you gotta lean in on and this is
Speaker 1: gonna be really hard for Frank because Frank is such
Speaker 1: a big believer in ball pressure and such a big
Speaker 1: believer in a little quick guards that can chase guys
Speaker 1: over the top of screens. But this team, now that
Speaker 1: Lebron is playing so much center, needs to go a
Speaker 1: lean heavier into playing their bigger wings. And so I'll
Speaker 1: be really curious to see if if that ends up
Speaker 1: being the the direction that they're going. Um. But that's
Speaker 1: all I have for Deny. Is there anything else you
Speaker 1: wanted to hit ros before we call? Now? It's funny
Speaker 1: you talked about the ball pressure. Um, the ball pressure
Speaker 1: that Frank Vogo like the sick joke about tonight. Really
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, they did a nice job on
Speaker 1: John Morant, at least in that first half. He just
Speaker 1: did all his threes. But like Avery Bradley was chasing
Speaker 1: over the top, Dwight was moving his feet. They're pourcing
Speaker 1: him into tough shots. That's what It just makes tonight
Speaker 1: a tough loss. But hopefully, you know, they can pick
Speaker 1: it up. I think they played Portland's on Friday, UM,
Speaker 1: and I think the schedule gets a little bit easier here.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's a tough one man. Jason Maples, I
Speaker 1: think tweeted this is rock bottom. I want to say
Speaker 1: this one's rock bottom, but Okay, see lost losses film
Speaker 1: felt a little bit more rock but or the lost
Speaker 1: in Minnesota at home that was actually you know, in
Speaker 1: the building for that one felt awful as well. But yeah,
Speaker 1: this was a tough one that you can't really give
Speaker 1: up games while you're two games under five. But I
Speaker 1: saw a good process stuff tonight. Man. I think we're
Speaker 1: getting if you know, if a d can come back
Speaker 1: and we get this type of Russ at least through
Speaker 1: the first three three and a half quarters. That that
Speaker 1: fourth quarter was rough, but I thought he played a
Speaker 1: good floor game, man, and I want to kind of
Speaker 1: keep that. I'm gonna go rewatch the game and maybe
Speaker 1: I changed my opinion and when I go, when I
Speaker 1: go rewatch it, but just watching it live, I just
Speaker 1: you know, in my notes on how much of like,
Speaker 1: oh that was a nice like Russ was pick and
Speaker 1: roll with Lebron and Russ saw the pocket past but
Speaker 1: then he was in the air and found a guy
Speaker 1: in the corner or like he was driving and get
Speaker 1: a nice finish at the basket through contact, like there
Speaker 1: was stuff to and I thought that was good. So
Speaker 1: good plays. Yeah, yeah, the late game stuff is is
Speaker 1: what it is. But I thought he made some nice
Speaker 1: plays as the game one. All right, everybody, that's all
Speaker 1: we have for tonight. So just you guys know, Raj
Speaker 1: is gonna be out of town on Friday, so I'll
Speaker 1: be trying to find a guest. Maybe I'll reach out
Speaker 1: to Maples and see if he wants to join us.
Speaker 1: I know he needs to give me a hard time
Speaker 1: about my THHD Drew holiday camp. And then I think
Speaker 1: he also is one of the guys the captain of
Speaker 1: the Let's Trade RUSS ships, So we'll try to reach
Speaker 1: out to the NMC if we can't get him on.
Speaker 1: But we appreciate you guys hanging with us. This is
Speaker 1: gonna be on dash Radio tomorrow morning at seven am
Speaker 1: Pacific Standard time, and we'll also be on our podcast
Speaker 1: feed here in about twenty minutes. Has always, we appreciate
Speaker 1: your support and we will be back for the game
Speaker 1: show on Friday. Thanks everyone,