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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by

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Speaker 1: Fan Duel. Here on the volume, I am Jason, Tam,

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

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Speaker 1: That was a heartbreaker. Holy cow. We are going to

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Speaker 1: talk about every single thing in that Laker game. If

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Speaker 1: you stick around for the end, I will also give

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Speaker 1: my first impressions of the hardened and bead pairing, but

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Speaker 1: not till the end. We're gonna talk lots of Lakers

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Speaker 1: here at the start. That was probably the most heartbreaking

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Speaker 1: loss of the season I can think of, because it

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Speaker 1: was one of the best Laker efforts in terms of

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Speaker 1: the things that haven't gone well for the most part

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Speaker 1: this season, that went well tonight. You know, I talked

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Speaker 1: a lot last week on the show about how much

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Speaker 1: this next stretch of Laker games, this next twenty four games,

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Speaker 1: was gonna really test their metal because under the circumstances

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Speaker 1: where they are in the standings, their situation, with how

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Speaker 1: much talent they have and how and how poorly they've

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Speaker 1: played all season, and with the Anthony Davis injury, that

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Speaker 1: there would be kind of a loss of hope, Like

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Speaker 1: what's the point of us putting in all this work,

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Speaker 1: if there's not something achievable at the end. I had

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Speaker 1: a feeling that that type of test would come several

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Speaker 1: times over the course of the next month and a half,

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Speaker 1: and it came early in this game when the Clippers

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Speaker 1: shot incredibly well to start the game on difficult shot

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Speaker 1: profile while the Lakers were doing their job on defense.

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Speaker 1: And then meanwhile on the other end of the floor,

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Speaker 1: you keep seeing like wide open three for Malik Monk Clank,

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Speaker 1: wide open three for Camelo Anthony Clank, and next thing

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Speaker 1: you know, you're down three. After you know, Luke Kennard

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Speaker 1: makes another crazy contested thirty footer and I'm like, here

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Speaker 1: you go, here's your first test. Here's your first opportunity

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Speaker 1: to decide whether or not you really want to do this,

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Speaker 1: And they did. They decided they wanted to do it,

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Speaker 1: and that effort in the second half down the line

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Speaker 1: was probably the best that I've seen this entire season

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Speaker 1: outside of Lebron. And I have to start with Lebron

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Speaker 1: here because this is one of the most unusual stretches

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Speaker 1: of games from him that I can remember seeing. I

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Speaker 1: would say that he was number one to blame for

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Speaker 1: losing against Golden State a couple of weeks ago before

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Speaker 1: the All Star break, he was horrific in the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter on both ends of the floor. Defensively, he was

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Speaker 1: throwing the ball away. On offense, he couldn't finish around

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Speaker 1: the rim. He was really struggling with Golden State's length,

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Speaker 1: and we all threw it away. Right, You're like, that's weird.

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Speaker 1: Lebron doesn't do that very often. That's that's just an

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Speaker 1: outlier performance. We move on, and we were all proven

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Speaker 1: right when all of a sudden against Utah, he reaches

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Speaker 1: deep and and just pulls out one of the best

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Speaker 1: performances in the fourth quarter that we've seen from him

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Speaker 1: in recent years. I think he had fifth in the

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Speaker 1: fourth and basically carries the team to a victory against Utah.

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Speaker 1: And then here we are against the Clippers, as a

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Speaker 1: second half run from Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony and

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Speaker 1: Taylor Horton, Tucker and Dwight Howard has amounted to elite

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. I believe they were up six

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Speaker 1: at one point, and it's just teed up there for

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Speaker 1: Lebron to carry him home. And I tweeted out, they

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Speaker 1: just need to get something from him. They don't need

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Speaker 1: a lot, they just need something, and they got almost nothing.

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Speaker 1: I tried to look at it. There were a couple

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Speaker 1: of contested defensive rebounds he got and then there was

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Speaker 1: that one picking pop where he hit Carmelo Anthony for

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Speaker 1: the three. Outside of that, it was a lot of

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Speaker 1: missed defensive assignment. Team is back to back switches on

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Speaker 1: the perimeter, one that gave Robert Covington a wide open three,

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Speaker 1: and then another that gave Luke Nardo Coffee a wide

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Speaker 1: open three at the top of the key. He he

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Speaker 1: had a play where he like kind of got out

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Speaker 1: of his rhythm and started talking trash to Robert Covington

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Speaker 1: and then just lost the handle and and and gave

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Speaker 1: up a foul the other way. Like it was just

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Speaker 1: it's a really I I can't remember a time that

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Speaker 1: I've seen Lebron have two this bad fourth quarters in

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Speaker 1: such a short period of time. And it's really unfortunate

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Speaker 1: because down the line, everyone else on the roster, We're

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Speaker 1: gonna touch on them all at some point tonight. Everyone

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Speaker 1: else on the roster did everything necessary to win that game,

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Speaker 1: not just to win that game. If they shoot a

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Speaker 1: little better and they get more out of Lebron, that

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Speaker 1: group can be above five hundred even with this intense

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Speaker 1: schedule without Anthony Davis over the course of the next month.

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Speaker 1: That's how well they played tonight. That's how well they

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Speaker 1: did their jobs in the in the varying lineups that

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Speaker 1: they that they went with tonight. And so I feel bad.

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Speaker 1: I feel bad for the for the team, and I

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Speaker 1: feel bad for for the fans because you know, they

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Speaker 1: couldn't let it go and they went for tonight and

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Speaker 1: Lebron just wasn't there. And again, like you gotta give

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Speaker 1: Lebron a huge amount of benefit of the doubt because

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Speaker 1: his resume is so extensive, and even his recent resume,

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Speaker 1: he's still one of the top two or three players

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Speaker 1: in the world. But this was bad. That was That

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Speaker 1: was a game where if you get even more out

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Speaker 1: of Lebron, you win, and instead you lose because you

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Speaker 1: get nothing from him and and that and that's really discouraging.

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Speaker 1: I was talking with one of my producers before the show.

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Speaker 1: I would have gone to Russ on that last possession.

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Speaker 1: How wild is that? Like that that's the type of

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Speaker 1: night Lebron was having. He wasn't dribbling the ball well,

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Speaker 1: he wasn't shooting the ball well, he wasn't making reads well.

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Speaker 1: He was all over the place. And Russ had it

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Speaker 1: going in the fourth quarter. He had a couple of

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Speaker 1: drives to the basket. He had a mid range jump

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Speaker 1: shot that he made around the foul line. He had

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Speaker 1: a little floater that he made like Russ. Russ had

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Speaker 1: it going, I would have gone in that direction. Now.

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Speaker 1: That was ended up working out fine because the Clippers

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Speaker 1: ended up sending a double at Lebron. But they just

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Speaker 1: didn't execute well out of that. And obviously you're not

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Speaker 1: gonna love a contested thirty ft three from Mellow. But

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, if you want a

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Speaker 1: silver lining, Lebron's not gonna play that bad. And they

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Speaker 1: didn't shoot particularly well, and everything that they did from

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Speaker 1: top to bottom with the role players is replicable. Those

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Speaker 1: are things they can continue to do moving forward. And

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Speaker 1: so I want to go piece by piece through through

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Speaker 1: some of these guys just to talk specifically about what

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Speaker 1: they did so well. So I want to start with Dwight.

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Speaker 1: You know, I I talked a lot this season like

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Speaker 1: Dwight is a good backup center and a lot of

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Speaker 1: the issues that have come with him this season have

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Speaker 1: had to do with circumstance. Injuries have forced the Lakers

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Speaker 1: to lean more on him than you'd want to. Instead

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Speaker 1: of using him sparingly as a bench big, he's been

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Speaker 1: forced to play big minutes on a lot of nights,

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Speaker 1: and as a result, he's looked old, which is something

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Speaker 1: that happens when you don't have that type of gas

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Speaker 1: in the tank to carry you through those stretches. But tonight,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it's the All Star break or

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Speaker 1: if he just was showing some fight or what the

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Speaker 1: deal was. That was as dominant a defensive performance from

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Speaker 1: Dwight that I've seen in a long time, and he

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Speaker 1: was killing on the offensive glass, doing some catch He

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Speaker 1: had bobbled a few passes around the rim, but he

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Speaker 1: was really good on the offensive end as well. And

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Speaker 1: so you know, particularly in the first half when the

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Speaker 1: wheels were coming off, when the Lakers were missing all

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Speaker 1: their shots and the Clippers were hitting everything, that could

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Speaker 1: have just as easily been a twenty five point game

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Speaker 1: at halftime, and Dwight Howard was a huge part of

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Speaker 1: why they were able to stay competitive. One of my

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Speaker 1: favorite things about Dwight is he's active in drop coverage

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Speaker 1: is one of the I hate drop coverages when you're

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Speaker 1: doing them with someone like DeAndre Jordan's where he's kind

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Speaker 1: of just waiting around the rim and it's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: if you drive right into me, I'll block you, but

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Speaker 1: if you take anything from fifteen to five feet, it's

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Speaker 1: all yours, bro, Like, I'm not even gonna go out there.

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Speaker 1: That's kind of the DeAndre Jordan approach. What Dwight Howard

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Speaker 1: does that I love is he's active and he's up

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Speaker 1: on the ball handler and he got a bunch of

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Speaker 1: strips tonight where he he's so crafty with his hands.

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Speaker 1: People forget that's part of what makes him such a

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Speaker 1: good defensive player in his prime. It's not just that

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Speaker 1: he's a freak. It's not just that he's superman. It's

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Speaker 1: because he has amazing defensive instincts, and those defensive instincts

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Speaker 1: show tonight throughout the game, and he got a lot

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Speaker 1: of cool strips and things along those lines. Melo had

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Speaker 1: another kind of similar game like that, particularly in the

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Speaker 1: second half. You know, uh, he they use the Lakers

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Speaker 1: use him too much and drop coverages. I prefer to

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Speaker 1: switch him because it's just he's just not quick enough

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Speaker 1: to cover ground the way they need him to. But

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Speaker 1: he did a lot defensively in the second half to

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Speaker 1: stay active. He also had a bunch of strips and

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Speaker 1: had a couple of key strips down at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game to get stops. Those are those are

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Speaker 1: veteran players on this Laker team that are gonna need

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Speaker 1: to step up moving forward and if that can be

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Speaker 1: continued Mello, particularly on the defensive end, and Dwight Howard

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Speaker 1: at Dwight Howard just night and night out doing what

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Speaker 1: he does as a backup center, that if they can

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Speaker 1: get that moving forward, he gives it gives you a

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Speaker 1: better chance, especially if Lebron can play a little bit better.

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Speaker 1: The next thing I wanted to hit on was this

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Speaker 1: idea of Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony and what you

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Speaker 1: do when they're not shooting well, because you know, in

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Speaker 1: the first half Malik Monk and and Carmelo Anthony were

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Speaker 1: breaking every thing, including wide open shots. But what's important

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Speaker 1: is like when you're coaching other players, like if you're

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Speaker 1: coaching Avery Bradley and he's missing everything and his head's

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Speaker 1: not in the game offensively, you need to bench him.

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Speaker 1: If you're UH coaching Stanley Johnson and he's doing the

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Speaker 1: same thing, you need to bench him. With Mellow and

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Speaker 1: Malik Monk in particular, I think it's so important for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers to give them a super long leash to

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Speaker 1: shoot through their slumps because when they get going, that

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Speaker 1: is what makes the Laker offense so dynamic. Is what

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Speaker 1: those two bring as those lethal shooters, and Malik Monkey

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Speaker 1: even getting to the rim. Molik Monk got his rhythm

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Speaker 1: tonight just putting his head down and going to the basket.

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Speaker 1: And so I'm a big believer and letting him shoot

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Speaker 1: through that. The same two guys that weren't making anything

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Speaker 1: in the first half, and we're part of the reason

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Speaker 1: they were losing, were the same two guys who got

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Speaker 1: hot in the second half and allowed that run to

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Speaker 1: kindle and and get going for the Lakers and actually

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Speaker 1: get them to a position where they can win the game. So,

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Speaker 1: but those two guys in particular, I'm a big believer

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Speaker 1: in letting them have a long leash. For those of

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Speaker 1: you who are just joining us, this is Lakers Tonight,

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Speaker 1: presented by FanDuel here on the volume. We're just breaking

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Speaker 1: down the Laker game right now. Stick around at the end,

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Speaker 1: I'll be talking a little bit about James Harden and

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Speaker 1: Joel Embiat as well. I wanted to talk about Russ

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Speaker 1: for a second. So Russ is on a three game

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Speaker 1: stretch here, or he's starting to play pretty well, And

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's a coincidence because it doesn't really

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Speaker 1: have a whole lot to do with what he's been

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Speaker 1: doing in the box score. You know that that's an

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Speaker 1: easy place to get distracted. You hear way too much

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Speaker 1: this season, like oh Russell Westbrook is shooting a higher

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Speaker 1: field goal percentage than Steph. Don't care. He's not been

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Speaker 1: nearly in the same stratosphere as a player as Stephen Curry.

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Speaker 1: I don't care about what he does with his field

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Speaker 1: goal percentage, or what he does shooting threes, or what

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Speaker 1: he does rebounding or even with his assists. All I

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Speaker 1: care about with Russ is is he impact acting winning?

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Speaker 1: Is he making more winning plays than he's making losing plays?

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Speaker 1: And as long as he's focused on all of the

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Speaker 1: things that Frank needs him to do in his role,

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Speaker 1: then he has a lot of leeway to miss the

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Speaker 1: occasional pull up transition three or to smoke a layup,

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Speaker 1: like he missed a fourth quarter lap tonight. He got

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Speaker 1: all the way to the rim and he missed a

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Speaker 1: left handed layup. I don't care. I thought he played

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Speaker 1: great tonight because he had more good plays than he

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Speaker 1: had bad plays. A huge part of this has been

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Speaker 1: won him buying into the role and putting in more

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Speaker 1: effort defensively. But two, he's playing slower, which again we

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Speaker 1: talked about this a couple of weeks ago. I have

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Speaker 1: no idea why it was Shock of all people that

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Speaker 1: got through to him, but Russ specifically told us, like

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Speaker 1: I was told by Shock to slow down. That's what

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Speaker 1: I've been trying. That's what's been working for me. And

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Speaker 1: it's not coincidence. Like when you're when you're flying into

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Speaker 1: the lane at full speed, it's difficult to finish. Like

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Speaker 1: just go up to your local l a fitness or

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Speaker 1: something and take a lay up on aneath the rim,

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Speaker 1: then go back to half court and sprint as fast

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Speaker 1: as you possibly can and try to lay it up.

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Speaker 1: It's just it's just tougher. Like, yeah, if you're a

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Speaker 1: good basketball player, you can do it. But it's it's tougher,

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Speaker 1: and Russ in those NBA settings in traffic would just

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Speaker 1: throw a bunch of junk up and he missed everything.

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Speaker 1: So him slowing down and being more methodical, doing more

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Speaker 1: jumping off of two feet instead of one feet, that's

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Speaker 1: more of a balanced take off as opposed to a

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Speaker 1: you know, off balance one ft you know, line drive

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Speaker 1: type of deal. That kind of thing is really really

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Speaker 1: helped him. He's also been more selective with his jump shot.

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Speaker 1: I only counted one jump shot tonight that I didn't like,

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Speaker 1: it a transition pull up that he took in the

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Speaker 1: first quarter. All the other jump shots he took made sense.

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Speaker 1: They were against drop coverages when the big was sitting

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Speaker 1: under the paint and the guard tried to go under

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Speaker 1: the screen and he found himself there around fifteen feet

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Speaker 1: with a lot of time for him to settle into

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Speaker 1: a nice balanced fifteen footer. Those are good shots for us.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's actually shooting a decent enough percentage this

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Speaker 1: year on those that they're fine or you don't want.

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Speaker 1: Russ is the isolation. I'm staring a guy in the

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Speaker 1: face and I'm just elevating over him and throwing it

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Speaker 1: into the corner of the backboard. Those are bad shots.

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Speaker 1: But Russ in general is starting to round things out

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Speaker 1: with his game. It's only three games, plenty of time

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Speaker 1: for him to slip back into what was not working

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Speaker 1: for him earlier. But if he can recreate this and

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Speaker 1: he can extend it forward, there's a good player in there.

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Speaker 1: And that was always my take with Russ was never

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Speaker 1: he sucks. It was that he's playing poorly because he's

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Speaker 1: stubborn and he's not embracing what the team needs him

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Speaker 1: to do. He was sucking in the way he was playing,

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Speaker 1: not in who he was as a basketball player. That's

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Speaker 1: an important distinction. And I don't know if there was

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Speaker 1: a wake up call in there somewhere or what the

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Speaker 1: deal was, but we're starting to see some signs of life.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to give him just a little little bit

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Speaker 1: of a shout out. The last thing I wanted to

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Speaker 1: hit on what was the Young Lakers. I did a

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Speaker 1: video on this a couple of days ago, UM, with

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Speaker 1: the help of the crew at the Volume Special shout

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Speaker 1: out to them. They got that those guys are amazing

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Speaker 1: and I couldn't do anything I do without them. UM.

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Speaker 1: But in this video. I was talking about why it

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Speaker 1: was so important for the Lakers to play their young

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Speaker 1: guys moving forward, and I pointed out through net rating.

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Speaker 1: If you just Google, if you just go to the

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Speaker 1: NBA dot com and you look up the best Lakers

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Speaker 1: playing alongside Lebron in order of net rating, it was

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Speaker 1: basically the four young guys Malik Monks, Stanley Johnson, Austin

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Speaker 1: Reeves and Taylor Horton Tucker and Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo Anthony,

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Speaker 1: it's not a coincidence that he's in that list. It's

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Speaker 1: because he still has an elite skill. Karmelo Anthony is

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Speaker 1: such a good spot up shooter, and he's still a

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Speaker 1: pretty good rebounder, and he's still a smart, savvy player.

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Speaker 1: That elite skill though, that shooting allows him to succeed

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Speaker 1: still in the league. A lot of the old players

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Speaker 1: that the Lakers are playing, guys like Trevor Reza DeAndre Jordan,

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Speaker 1: they don't actually have an NBA skill anymore. Like like

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Speaker 1: Trevor Reasa had a wide open transition layup from Lebron,

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Speaker 1: and he like in his prime, you'd still be hanging

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Speaker 1: on the rim and instead he like looked like his

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Speaker 1: knee gave out a little bit. He just looked a

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Speaker 1: step slowly, airball to three out of the corner. He

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Speaker 1: was missing by a lot. Like that guy, there's just

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Speaker 1: not a whole lot he can bring to the table

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Speaker 1: at this point in his career. Maybe it's the ankle injury.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but he's not that

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Speaker 1: guy anymore. Mellow is a vet that's still giving you something.

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Speaker 1: Dwight hasn't been an every night player yet this year,

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Speaker 1: but he gave you something tonight. That's something you look

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Speaker 1: at outside of those two guys. It has to be

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Speaker 1: the youth. It has to be Stanley Johnson, it has

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Speaker 1: to be uh Austin Reeves, it has to be Tailor,

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Speaker 1: and has to be Monks, and all of those guys

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Speaker 1: gave you something tonight in some area of the game.

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Speaker 1: Tailor I talked a lot in the video about how

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Speaker 1: he's starting to come into his own as a playmaker.

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Speaker 1: In the previous seven games, he had twenty six assist

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Speaker 1: to just twelve turnovers. That's incredible for a twenty one

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Speaker 1: year old guard. Guards are all like young guards are

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Speaker 1: always a step behind with efficiency and limiting mistakes and

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Speaker 1: and th HD is starting to show signs that he's

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Speaker 1: kind of on the other side of that hill, which

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Speaker 1: is exciting. He was amazing in that second half on

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Speaker 1: both ends of the floor, countless steals and strip aways.

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Speaker 1: He had his entire offensive repertoire working. He was scoring

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Speaker 1: at the basket, he was making three point shots, he

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Speaker 1: was making contested turnaround jump shots in the midrange. He

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Speaker 1: had everything going. He looked like the player that has

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Speaker 1: had me so exciting, so excited all season. And this

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Speaker 1: is again an extended stretch. This is eight games from

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Speaker 1: tailand now where he's looked really good. I went on

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Speaker 1: the favor It's Another Volume podcast on Monday this or

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Speaker 1: Tuesday this week, and on that show, I said, the

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Speaker 1: only way that the Lakers can have enough talent to

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Speaker 1: win a championship this year is if someone like Tailan

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Speaker 1: takes a massive leap. Now, in order for this to

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Speaker 1: be a leap, Tailor has to stay good for the

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Speaker 1: rest of the season. So there's a long way to

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Speaker 1: go in that department, but that this is a good

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Speaker 1: first step in that direction. Austin third quarter, especially in

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Speaker 1: the first quarter and third quarter in particular, the Clippers

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Speaker 1: went out of their way to try to attack Austin

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Speaker 1: and as I've kept saying, every possession that the other

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Speaker 1: team goes out of their offense to try to isolate

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Speaker 1: Austin Reeves is a win for the Lakers because they're

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Speaker 1: not warning very often, they're inefficient in those possessions, and

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Speaker 1: the other four Lakers get to stand around and just watch,

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Speaker 1: and then as soon as the shot goes up, they

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Speaker 1: crashed the boards and they're running the other way. And

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Speaker 1: the Lakers were getting a lot of good stuff on

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Speaker 1: possessions where the Clippers were foolishly attacking Austin Reeves as

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Speaker 1: if he was some good option to attack. So information like,

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Speaker 1: I'm it's really unfortunate because the Lakers played well enough

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Speaker 1: to win this game. It just so happens that the

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Speaker 1: Lakers have played two They've put together two really good

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Speaker 1: basketball games in their last three against the Warriors and Clippers,

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Speaker 1: and come away with two losses because their leader, who's

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Speaker 1: been amazing all season, who's been amazing for three seasons,

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Speaker 1: their leader couldn't come through, And you just have to

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Speaker 1: chalk it up to bad luck. It is what it is.

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Speaker 1: But the overall package of what the Lakers put on

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Speaker 1: the court tonight with the Lebron that we know, not

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Speaker 1: the one we saw tonight, but the Lebron that we

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Speaker 1: know that group can win enough games to make a

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Speaker 1: run at the seven or eight seed and get Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis back and try to get into that seven spot

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Speaker 1: to try to avoid Phoenix. That's a formula there, and

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Speaker 1: so that's why what I wanted to stay positive on

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Speaker 1: that front. As unfortunate as this loss is, the Lakers

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Speaker 1: are starting to behave and show some signs of being

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Speaker 1: a good basketball team. For those of you who are

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Speaker 1: just joining us, this is Lakers Tonight, presented by Fandel

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Speaker 1: here on the volume. We were just breaking down the

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Speaker 1: Laker game. I wanted to take just a couple of

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Speaker 1: minutes before we get out of out of here tonight

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Speaker 1: to talk about James Harden's first game with the Philadelphia

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Speaker 1: seventy sixers. First of all, I was joking with with

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Speaker 1: my producers this it's the least shocking thing in the

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Speaker 1: entire world, was that, Uh, James Harden looked fantastic tonight

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Speaker 1: Because of course, because of course, James, as soon as

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Speaker 1: he gets his you know, headspace in the right space,

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Speaker 1: he's got it all figured out and now he's playing

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Speaker 1: basketball again and he's playing well. That what he did

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Speaker 1: in Houston to try to force the trade, what he

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Speaker 1: did in Brooklyn to try to force the trade. It's

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Speaker 1: just really ugly stuff. It's not a good look. You

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Speaker 1: can blame it on injuries all you want, but dude,

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Speaker 1: when you when you walk into Philly and you're looking

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Speaker 1: super happy and all of a sudden, you're making all

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Speaker 1: your step back threes and you're getting to the basket again,

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Speaker 1: you're starting to draw free throws, that's that's an indicator

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Speaker 1: of the fact that you were you know, we were bamboozled.

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Speaker 1: For lack of a better term, you were leading the

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Speaker 1: way and uh uh, you were basically trying to manipulate

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Speaker 1: the situation into your favor. There are a couple of

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Speaker 1: interesting things that stood out to me. So for starters,

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Speaker 1: that team is ridiculously talented, and it's something that I

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Speaker 1: that didn't really click for me until I saw it.

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Speaker 1: I'll put together tonight. But they have this luxury because

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Speaker 1: of how much offensive creation Joel and Beat and James

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Speaker 1: Harden bring to the table. They have this luxury of

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Speaker 1: being able to allow their role players to focus on

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Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor. And so now you're

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Speaker 1: asking Tyree s Maaxe, who's very good point of attack defender,

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Speaker 1: who moves his feet really well, has good size and

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Speaker 1: strength at the guard position. And then two really good wings.

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Speaker 1: Tobias Harris is a really good wing defender and Matissetibel

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Speaker 1: is one of the best wing defenders that we have

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Speaker 1: in the league. The dude is gonna be a perennial

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Speaker 1: All Defense selection. When you put those three guys next

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Speaker 1: to Joel Embiad, who's an awesome drop coverage big, then

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Speaker 1: it's just makes James Harden's job easier. One of the

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Speaker 1: things I noticed that they were switching everything one through four,

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Speaker 1: but then they were running traditional drop coverages with them BEAD,

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Speaker 1: but then when Harden would be in the screen with

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Speaker 1: him BEAD a lot of times in BEAD would switch

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Speaker 1: that one too. They're making things very easy for James

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Speaker 1: and so his defensive shortcomings are just not a problem

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Speaker 1: alongside this group, which allows him to stay focused on

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Speaker 1: what he does best, which is score the basketball and

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Speaker 1: create shots for his teammates, which is something he did really,

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Speaker 1: really well all night long tonight. One of the interesting

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Speaker 1: dynamics that I was looking at is, I was like,

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Speaker 1: I was thinking, you know, Joel embiad is never really

431
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,359
Speaker 1: played with a really good pick and roll threat in

432
00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 1: his career, not one that dictates the type of attention

433
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:08,399
Speaker 1: that James Harden does. He's played with guys like Tyres Maxie,

434
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:10,160
Speaker 1: and he's played with guys like Ben Simmons, and he's

435
00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 1: done dribble handoff stuff with guys like Seth Curry, but

436
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:16,879
Speaker 1: he's never played with a real pick and roll threat

437
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,159
Speaker 1: that forces you to chase over the top and offer

438
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,560
Speaker 1: help from the big It's a it's a rare. There's

439
00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:24,639
Speaker 1: only like a dozen of them in the entire league,

440
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,720
Speaker 1: and and Joe Ellen beats playing with them to playing

441
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:29,560
Speaker 1: with one right now. And one of the things that

442
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,560
Speaker 1: I noticed was, and beat who's not a great rim runner.

443
00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,879
Speaker 1: He's not your Clint Capella, you know, Nick Claxton. I'm

444
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,199
Speaker 1: gonna roll to the rim and just jump, and my

445
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 1: elbows will be above the rim, and you just throw

446
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,040
Speaker 1: it up there and I'll dunk it like the Joel

447
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:46,480
Speaker 1: and Beads. Not that guy. And so I was really

448
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 1: curious to see how that dynamic would work. And basically

449
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:51,919
Speaker 1: what he did is every time he'd set the screen,

450
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,920
Speaker 1: they'd send two at James Harden and and Bead would

451
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:56,520
Speaker 1: just roll to the semicircle. It's kind of like a

452
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 1: short roll. And then Harden would just throw him a

453
00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,119
Speaker 1: baseball pass and he just catch and he would do

454
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,560
Speaker 1: him beat stuff right from the semicircle, just one dribble,

455
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: spin lay up, but just quick turn and finish. And

456
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,120
Speaker 1: he was getting all sorts of fouls and all sorts

457
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,239
Speaker 1: of stuff right at the rim and scoring easy. And

458
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,119
Speaker 1: you know, when you're one of the things that sucks

459
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,239
Speaker 1: about being the only start, something that Lebron's dealing with

460
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 1: right now, something can be dealt with all seasons. Something

461
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,800
Speaker 1: yokis dealt with all season. When you're the only star,

462
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 1: you don't get easy shots, so everything you do is hard,

463
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:32,399
Speaker 1: and as a result, it's difficult to manufacture the offense

464
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 1: that you manufacture over the course of the game. When

465
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,879
Speaker 1: you play with that other high level player, that's what

466
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,920
Speaker 1: allows you to supplement your offense with easy stuff. Joe

467
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,359
Speaker 1: embiad is gonna have fewer bad nights because he's gonna

468
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,199
Speaker 1: get more easy shots early in the game operating as

469
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,080
Speaker 1: a short roller off of attention that James Harden gathers

470
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 1: and as a result is gonna get a lot of

471
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 1: easy finishes, a lot of trips to the free throw

472
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 1: line that will allow him to build his rhythm and

473
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 1: allow him to get it going. That was a really

474
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: impressive win. Minnesota is good. They were eighteen and eleven

475
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,159
Speaker 1: at home coming into that game, they were twelve in

476
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 1: the entire league in home net rating. That's not an

477
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,719
Speaker 1: easy game. And Philly just went in there and whooped

478
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 1: their ass. And and I again, it's never you never

479
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 1: want to overreact to one game that could lay down

480
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,480
Speaker 1: and take a bad loss in a couple of nights here.

481
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 1: But as far as first showings, that's as good as

482
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: it gets. And I have one last thought because we

483
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:32,200
Speaker 1: did experience the all time foul bathing type of game

484
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,720
Speaker 1: from James Harden and Joel embid I. I can't remember

485
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 1: exactly how many free throws they shot, but it was

486
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,639
Speaker 1: a million. We had our classic James Harden three pointer

487
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,160
Speaker 1: on the right wing, where as soon as he elevates

488
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,600
Speaker 1: to shoot, he just literally allows his feet to swing

489
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:46,959
Speaker 1: like four or five ft out in front of him

490
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 1: and he's literally fault like there's a still shot of

491
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:54,160
Speaker 1: James Harden before he lands on the defender where he's

492
00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:57,000
Speaker 1: straight up falling, like the dude is just falling for

493
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 1: the sake of falling because he knows the foul call

494
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 1: is coming. But one thing I'll say this, I hate it.

495
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 1: It's basketball blasphemy. It's not good for the game. It

496
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 1: never gets any easier to watch. But if there's one

497
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,679
Speaker 1: silver lining, it's that we know that doesn't work. We

498
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 1: have decades and decades of evidence that that style of

499
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,000
Speaker 1: basketball does not work in the postseason. So if there's

500
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 1: one vindication in all of this, it's that if James

501
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: Harden and Joel Embi'd win a championship this season, they're

502
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 1: gonna have to do with the old fashioned way by

503
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,560
Speaker 1: putting the ball in the basket and stopping the other

504
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:32,159
Speaker 1: team from putting the ball in the basket on the

505
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,439
Speaker 1: other end. All and although I was impressed by the

506
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 1: whole dynamic and the way that it worked, that team

507
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 1: makes sense in a lot of ways. I'm still not

508
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,240
Speaker 1: sure if James Harden and Joel and be can out

509
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 1: execute Janice and Kevin Durant in a seven game series,

510
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,239
Speaker 1: but they're gonna have their chance. And as far as

511
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: first impressions go, that was about as good as it gets. Alright, guys,

512
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 1: that is all I have for tonight. As always, I

513
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:56,399
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate your guys support. Lakers play the Pelicans on

514
00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:00,360
Speaker 1: Sunday night at seven pm Pacific Standard time. I will

515
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,320
Speaker 1: be going live immediately after that game. See you guys.

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00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 1: Then the volume mhmm