Speaker 1: M all right, everybody welcomes to the state of the
Speaker 1: late just postgame space. UM, I appreciate you guys making
Speaker 1: time for us on your Sunday night to come and
Speaker 1: hang out. I hope you brought questions. I hope you
Speaker 1: brought anything you want to vent about, anything you want
Speaker 1: to say, because we're gonna try to take as many
Speaker 1: as we can tonight. Obviously, I think everything we have
Speaker 1: to say about tonight starts and ends with a D.
Speaker 1: Don't you think garage? Oh yeah, absolutely, I had a
Speaker 1: bunch of things written down here, but a D for
Speaker 1: sure is the main main story we can start with
Speaker 1: him for sure. Yeah, I think, like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we started to notice that he looked a little bit
Speaker 1: better physically the last couple of games. Um, the big
Speaker 1: thing that stood out to me tonight is, you know,
Speaker 1: his physical aggressiveness around on the basket on both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor, and not just as an offensive player,
Speaker 1: but as a rebounder and as a shot blocker. And
Speaker 1: the thing is is, like, you know, you can tell
Speaker 1: there's a huge difference with him offensively when he's being
Speaker 1: more physically aggressive, because just like with that shot chart
Speaker 1: that I shared, he just tends to get a little
Speaker 1: bit closer to the rim with those jump shots. Like
Speaker 1: there's a huge difference for a d between his fade
Speaker 1: away and when he's shooting over the top of people.
Speaker 1: It's like two completely different shots because like he gets
Speaker 1: into your body and he kind of reaches over the
Speaker 1: top of you, and he's shooting like an eight foot
Speaker 1: jump shot. That's a really high percentage shot. It's different
Speaker 1: than him taking some you know, crazy spinning fade away
Speaker 1: from sev feet. If you look at his shot chart,
Speaker 1: he hit a bunch of shots going over both shoulders,
Speaker 1: getting into that like you know, five to ten foot
Speaker 1: range where he's so deadly with his soft touch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, And like I'm gonna tipe this back into
Speaker 1: a D. But like we were talking about how like
Speaker 1: un serious the Lakers were, right in a lot of
Speaker 1: these games, and like tonight, Vogo coached as like it
Speaker 1: was a playoff game, right. He matched up, He went
Speaker 1: with correct matchups all night pretty much, and a D
Speaker 1: as well. To start this game. He was aggressive. They
Speaker 1: had I think Tory Craig on him to start. He
Speaker 1: just was no matchup for him. They even had to
Speaker 1: start Dario. Sorry, I think in the second half to
Speaker 1: match up to match with Anthony Davis, and he who
Speaker 1: went off his jumper was going. He was at the rim,
Speaker 1: getting fouls, getting contact, and this is what we wanted
Speaker 1: to see, right, Like I keep saying, these wins are
Speaker 1: just cravy. He's We're pretty much locked into the seventh
Speaker 1: seed pretty much. So these wins to me are just
Speaker 1: like cherry on the top. A D looking like himself
Speaker 1: is the most important thing, and he he absolutely did tonight.
Speaker 1: He did against Portland as well, and he's going on
Speaker 1: like a linear curve, right, is what it feels like.
Speaker 1: Likes Denver, the Clippers. I think he only played like
Speaker 1: the first quarter, but against Denver, Portland and now Phoenix,
Speaker 1: he's on like a linear curve here, just really being aggressive,
Speaker 1: being himself, being you know, there was this bubble a
Speaker 1: D talks, but he just looks. Uh, he just looks
Speaker 1: like himself and that's the most important thing. And him
Speaker 1: dropping I think I think he got to forty tonight, right,
Speaker 1: forty points, back to back thirty point games for the
Speaker 1: first time, the second time the season since February. So yeah,
Speaker 1: he was he was dominating. He was the he was
Speaker 1: a big story tonight. Well, and like he I, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that while it's also important for us to
Speaker 1: acknowledge that he's been amazing in this last week, it's
Speaker 1: also important for us to acknowledge that he wasn't great
Speaker 1: for most of this season, and you know, maybe it
Speaker 1: was health, maybe it was a lack of effort, maybe
Speaker 1: it was coasting, whatever you wanna call it. But this
Speaker 1: has been different. You know, I pointed out the stats
Speaker 1: uh last week, but he had like five forty point
Speaker 1: games and I think a fifty last uh last season
Speaker 1: as well, and I think this is I think this
Speaker 1: is just his second forty point game of the year
Speaker 1: this year. So it's been nice to see him peeking
Speaker 1: at the right time, if that makes sense. But you know,
Speaker 1: we had our concerns for good reason, because it just
Speaker 1: didn't It just didn't look right. And the biggest difference
Speaker 1: to me, it was, you know, that diving on the floor,
Speaker 1: the yelling and screaming after the alley. Youops, like there
Speaker 1: was a play there in the third quarter where he
Speaker 1: broke up a lob where it's just like an extra
Speaker 1: effort play that we haven't seen from him yet this year,
Speaker 1: and just just there was a fieriness and a competitiveness
Speaker 1: to the way he was playing tonight. That was super
Speaker 1: refreshing to see because he is a competitor like that,
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe it was just his leg and
Speaker 1: in him dealing with that all season, but we just
Speaker 1: didn't see that out of him this year. So it
Speaker 1: was so refreshing to see that out of him, literally
Speaker 1: in every facet of the game. Like he was just
Speaker 1: in a game that had Devin Booker and Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: he was several tiers ahead of everybody else on the
Speaker 1: floor as the best player in the game. And that
Speaker 1: was that was comforting to see. Yeah, his motor is
Speaker 1: what's what makes him part generational. Right, It's like if
Speaker 1: motor combined with those skills, combined with the like being
Speaker 1: able to remount off into remount, go up your boards,
Speaker 1: played like his defense man tonight, Like you could just
Speaker 1: tell the difference. He obviously walked into this season trying
Speaker 1: to relax, get through a slowly fit in. Right. He
Speaker 1: said a lot his quotes earlier in the year, we're
Speaker 1: a lot about fitting into a new team, and like
Speaker 1: you're Anthony Davis, you don't fit into the team. But yeah, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: and so like his defense is what allows them to
Speaker 1: play the kind to play the way they did tonight, right,
Speaker 1: especially against Phoenix trapping Devin Booker being able to switch.
Speaker 1: Devin Booker like was isolated against a D a few
Speaker 1: times tonight and just could not even get a shot off, right, Like,
Speaker 1: he couldn't even get any space. And that's the type
Speaker 1: of stuff that we just weren't seeing earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: And you're right, it's okay to like bring that up.
Speaker 1: And he's able to help and recover. He had one
Speaker 1: play where he he was able to recover at the
Speaker 1: room and get out and block Jay Crowder And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's how you know a D is like feeling
Speaker 1: like himself, right, He's able to He controlled both ends,
Speaker 1: and I think he only finished with like five assists,
Speaker 1: but I thought he handled double teams really well. I
Speaker 1: don't know about you, Like he felt like he really
Speaker 1: like read the traps nicely. Um that played before the half,
Speaker 1: especially where like they came and sent the double he
Speaker 1: found Ben McLamore in the corner and it was just
Speaker 1: great to see him, Like, like, I hate how far
Speaker 1: radical this team is because now you're just theoretically putting
Speaker 1: Lebron in now right, You're like, Okay, how it's gonna
Speaker 1: look with Lebron of it. If those two are going,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be special. I don't think Phoenix wants to
Speaker 1: see this team um should be in the first round.
Speaker 1: Well so, so starting with the individual side of it, uh,
Speaker 1: that was what was cool about the specific matchup. One
Speaker 1: of the big things that I've always said that I
Speaker 1: like about the Suns as a potential playoff team is
Speaker 1: they have all of these wing defenders, and they also
Speaker 1: have these guards that can defend. But then they also
Speaker 1: have like a big guy, you know, DeAndre Nuken theoretically
Speaker 1: with his size match up with some of the bigger
Speaker 1: players in the league. Well, Anthony Davis saw all of
Speaker 1: those guys tonight and just barbecued every single one of them,
Speaker 1: like they literally could do nothing with him in individual coverage.
Speaker 1: And then it just kind of waterfalls into the progressions.
Speaker 1: Right then then they started sending double teams and and
Speaker 1: and and I thought one of the really smart things
Speaker 1: that the Lakers did, especially in the minutes that Marcusol
Speaker 1: was in the game and our guy ven A was
Speaker 1: actually tweeting about this, and I thought it was a
Speaker 1: really smart find on his part. But when they would
Speaker 1: put Marcussol as the guy at the top of the
Speaker 1: key out of those double teams, it is perfect because
Speaker 1: then it's simplified eighties read He could just make a
Speaker 1: quick read out to Mark and then Mark, you know,
Speaker 1: a really gifted passer, could be the guy that really
Speaker 1: made them pay by making the more complicated read out
Speaker 1: of those double teams. But yeah, I mean the end
Speaker 1: of the third quarter was the microcosm of of what
Speaker 1: it's like having such a matchup problem. You know, Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis dribbles the ball across half court with twenty seconds
Speaker 1: to go in the in the quarter shot clocks is
Speaker 1: turned off and the sons are all kind of looking
Speaker 1: at each other like what are we supposed to do?
Speaker 1: And then they just openly double him thirty five ft
Speaker 1: from the basket, and it leads to a wide open
Speaker 1: shot for a guy who if you leave them wide open,
Speaker 1: it's gonna make him in Ben McLamore, and he knocked
Speaker 1: it down and and it was just it was just
Speaker 1: cool to see that. And honestly, it was just like
Speaker 1: it was a you know, just a great scia of
Speaker 1: relief for Laker fans because Anthony Davis being Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: was such an important box to check for this team
Speaker 1: to be able to compete in this competitive playoff field
Speaker 1: that we have, and that appears to have been resoundingly
Speaker 1: checked in this last week, minus, of course, a couple
Speaker 1: of scares like him once again like he does every
Speaker 1: single night, randomly grabbing at a limb, scaring us into
Speaker 1: thinking he might have been hurt. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know how like he looks tonight. He looks like
Speaker 1: bubble Anthony Davis, which I think is exactly what we
Speaker 1: were hoping to see before this. Uh this last five
Speaker 1: games stretches over yeah, yeah, and like that that kind
Speaker 1: of brings everyone else up right, like everyone else goes
Speaker 1: like it's time to go right. All the rotations were
Speaker 1: Chris christ tonight. We had like a Cameron payin game
Speaker 1: because of course we had a camera paining game. But um,
Speaker 1: other than that, I thought they played really well. They
Speaker 1: played Chris Paul and Devin Booker, I think as well
Speaker 1: as I've seen anyone play them. Bulbo, like I said before,
Speaker 1: was in like his playoff kind of form. I guess
Speaker 1: we can kind of move on after like a d
Speaker 1: I guess he's still part of this. But like we
Speaker 1: saw the soul in treas minutes tonight, which I thought
Speaker 1: would be a revelation. Um, I thought they played really
Speaker 1: well in the first half and the second half. They
Speaker 1: still have some kings to work out. Um, but I
Speaker 1: thought it looked nice. Likes was able to play the
Speaker 1: five on offense and then play the floor on defense. Um,
Speaker 1: did you like what you saw from that? Like that
Speaker 1: that last part is key because you know, so for instance,
Speaker 1: I've I've talked to you a lot this season, like
Speaker 1: Mantrise has to defend like a four, and for the record,
Speaker 1: that doesn't that doesn't mean he needs to be the four.
Speaker 1: You can do this when so for instance, like if
Speaker 1: you have a to a two three pick and roll,
Speaker 1: usually you're two and three will will switch that screen.
Speaker 1: Usually only actions that involve the five will cause teams
Speaker 1: to do you know, drop coverages and different pick and
Speaker 1: roll coverages that involved the big man, you know, doing
Speaker 1: something different than a traditional switch. Well, I've always been
Speaker 1: arguing this season that montres AND's a switch screen and
Speaker 1: roll because he is good in space, because he is
Speaker 1: a good athlete with long arms who moves well laterally.
Speaker 1: It has a great motor, and he operates well in
Speaker 1: the chaos when he's running around in rotations and helping
Speaker 1: when you know, off of double teams and stuff, and
Speaker 1: so like when you put him defensively as the four
Speaker 1: and he's no longer a screen and roll defender but
Speaker 1: rather just a defender playing on the perimeter, he's actually
Speaker 1: a really good defensive player. And I think he's been
Speaker 1: miscast as a dude who defends like a traditional five.
Speaker 1: When you play him as the five, you need to
Speaker 1: use him more as a perimeter type of defensive player.
Speaker 1: And what's nice about the Marcus All minutes is it
Speaker 1: unlocks that it allows him to defensively play like a four,
Speaker 1: and you can see how how that works. It didn't
Speaker 1: look in the in the fourth quarter, but I think
Speaker 1: that was kind of a stretch in the game where
Speaker 1: the where the Lakers were letting go of the rope
Speaker 1: a bit from in terms of their effort um. So
Speaker 1: I didn't think that like even when camera Payne was
Speaker 1: going off like it kind of felt more profit product
Speaker 1: of sloppiness um just kind of as a result of
Speaker 1: being up twenty. But yeah, I agree with you, man,
Speaker 1: And what a great what a great excuse to get
Speaker 1: more Marcus all minutes than to play him with Tres.
Speaker 1: If you're so intent on on on playing Montrez, like
Speaker 1: do it with Cassol, then you can get Gasol in
Speaker 1: there too. And and I hope they do it a
Speaker 1: little bit more because I do think he provides a
Speaker 1: unique twist to what they bring in terms of their physicality. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's not just the Disol minutes. It's also there
Speaker 1: was no markiep tonight, and I think he's playable in
Speaker 1: certain matchups. It's just like a drum that I've been
Speaker 1: banging all season. Is I just don't think you can
Speaker 1: have Mark Keith and Treads as your four or five, right,
Speaker 1: And they were doing that a lot this year, and
Speaker 1: they would blow a lot of the leads of the
Speaker 1: starters would put up and so one of them would
Speaker 1: sit and tonight it was Markiss. Maybe it's Treads and
Speaker 1: Ou tonight. But again that's just a way to get
Speaker 1: Gasol more minutes. And I think this is this was
Speaker 1: a serious game, Like you could tell it was coach
Speaker 1: that way. Um he was even like he was matching
Speaker 1: Crusoe's minutes with Chris Paul and Casey's minutes with Devin Booker. Again,
Speaker 1: those are just like seriousness things that we just weren't
Speaker 1: doing early in the year, right, and we were we
Speaker 1: really wanted to win this game. It was showed and
Speaker 1: I thought everyone played that way. And yeah, Gasol looks
Speaker 1: like he's gonna start getting even more minutes. He went
Speaker 1: to drumming a little bit in that fourth quarter, and again,
Speaker 1: I think he just keeps trying to do that, trying
Speaker 1: to see if it works. And I guess we can
Speaker 1: kind of move to drumming here because I think that's
Speaker 1: a hot topic as well. On Laker's Twitter, I talked
Speaker 1: about a lot like Drummond has a lot of loud mistakes, right,
Speaker 1: Like that's why he gets like to Like I thought
Speaker 1: he like did an okay job, Like he was a
Speaker 1: force on the offensive rebounds. Um, I wish that every
Speaker 1: time he got an offensive rebound he just kicked it
Speaker 1: out because like, I just don't trust him to go back.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, like I thought he was a part
Speaker 1: of why Deandreden wasn't um an impact at all to
Speaker 1: like the fourth quarter, right, So I thought like there
Speaker 1: were points he did struggle a few times, but um, yeah,
Speaker 1: like I felt like it was another game where he
Speaker 1: had a lot of loud mistakes and it really showed
Speaker 1: up in the fourth quarter. What do you think of
Speaker 1: Drummond from tonight? I thought he had a bad fourth
Speaker 1: quarter shift, but outside of that, I thought he was
Speaker 1: pretty good. You know, I agree with you, he's got
Speaker 1: loud mistakes. He's a he's your textbook good play bad
Speaker 1: play guy. And whether or not whether or not it's
Speaker 1: a good ANDREI Drummond game has to do with whether
Speaker 1: or not there were more good plays than bad plays.
Speaker 1: It's really it's really that simple. And you know, he
Speaker 1: had a couple of sloppy turnovers where he tried to
Speaker 1: put the ball on the floor after offensive rebounds in
Speaker 1: the first staff and they were turnovers. But like the
Speaker 1: the in the grand scheme of things, he had more
Speaker 1: positive impact than negative impact during those shifts and really
Speaker 1: physically imposing getting And you know, it's it's not the
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond in the vacuum. It's him in combination with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, just the two of them when they're both
Speaker 1: being physically aggressive. It's just what like it just wears
Speaker 1: on other teams. And then you throw Lebron into that mix.
Speaker 1: Who is every bit is you know, physically imposing as
Speaker 1: those guys. It can it can it can be is
Speaker 1: something that can be a weapon that the Lakers have
Speaker 1: in their arsenal. But you know, again, as long as
Speaker 1: they do what Frank did, you know, Hey, you know
Speaker 1: Drummond is having a bad fourth quarter shift here, the
Speaker 1: wheels are coming off a little bit. Let's go to
Speaker 1: Mark And that's what he did. And you know that
Speaker 1: that to me is how you got to use Drummond
Speaker 1: is you've got to kind of feel out what kind
Speaker 1: of nightties having and if it is just like the
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard experience, like feel out what kind of nighties having.
Speaker 1: If he's having one of those nights, you just gotta
Speaker 1: pull it. But but if he's if he's staying on
Speaker 1: task and his good outweighs the bad, you can him
Speaker 1: for stretches and he's gonna be uh that positive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had a few like nice jobs on like where
Speaker 1: Chris Paul would come off a screen. He was able
Speaker 1: to like hedge and then recover back right. And he
Speaker 1: was a part he was to be part of the
Speaker 1: scheme of the of the defense in the first quarter.
Speaker 1: But everyone's gonna remember that that mislay up where I
Speaker 1: think Jake Crowder was on the floor or I think
Speaker 1: he had another he had another really bad play, But
Speaker 1: I thought he was okay. Like again, I just feel
Speaker 1: like he's are all gonna be situational, and we saw
Speaker 1: that tonight. Marcosol was the first big to come up
Speaker 1: the bench, and then I think it was Tress. But
Speaker 1: I think in the playoffs you're gonna see more Mark.
Speaker 1: And you saw Mark kind of play those those minutes
Speaker 1: when it mattered, right, especially at the beginning of the
Speaker 1: fourth And he played a lot with eight tonight as well.
Speaker 1: So again, like we can kind of harp on drumming
Speaker 1: a lot, like he gets to he gets the main
Speaker 1: kind of culprit every night. But I thought he was okay.
Speaker 1: He was He was a big part of why the
Speaker 1: Sun's had trouble tonight in my opinion, like especially on
Speaker 1: the board. So um, yeah, like I feel like he
Speaker 1: did okay, he wasn't the He wasn't a huge, huge,
Speaker 1: huge issue tonight. Yeah, I agree, And you know, I
Speaker 1: was thinking a lot about this because we've we've seem
Speaker 1: so much drumming that this year, uh without Lebron, And
Speaker 1: we taught you and I talked right when the signing happened, like, hey,
Speaker 1: we really can't judge the signing until Lebron comes back,
Speaker 1: you know, and for a lot of reasons, not just
Speaker 1: what he does offensively, but because he raises the collective
Speaker 1: i Q of everybody on the floor just by telling
Speaker 1: people where to be and so on and so forth.
Speaker 1: And and we still really haven't gotten to see it
Speaker 1: because of Lebron's injuries. So like, you know, for him
Speaker 1: to be to have nights like this where he's a
Speaker 1: net positive before Lebron even comes around, I think is optimistic.
Speaker 1: We're I think there were some Laker fans who were
Speaker 1: way too optimistic about drum end upfront. And I think
Speaker 1: I think we've been enlightened to the fact that he
Speaker 1: has struggled in previous stance for good reason. Um. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, like I think he
Speaker 1: is a usable piece here, and just like you always
Speaker 1: harp on when we do these podcasts, like he does
Speaker 1: catch too much flak kind of is just like the
Speaker 1: scapegoat for all their problems. When a lot of these nights.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a collective poor effort, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Yeah, for sure, And I guess we can
Speaker 1: kind of keep going from Drummond the game from Caruso
Speaker 1: tonight man seventeen points and then uh six, I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's what he finished with. I just wrote
Speaker 1: down seventeen point six assists and like all those reps,
Speaker 1: remember when Lebron went down, they were giving it to
Speaker 1: Caruso and he was getting turnovers and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: bad shots. Those reps eem to be paying dividends now
Speaker 1: because he just looked so comfortable with the basketball, like
Speaker 1: he knows where to go. He found uh I think
Speaker 1: one of the biggest players of the night, and the
Speaker 1: Sons were kind of making the run. Um he had
Speaker 1: the ball at the top, there was nothing going on offense,
Speaker 1: and then he kind of told West to cut and
Speaker 1: then West guy like and one I think on Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: and that kind of settled the game down. I think
Speaker 1: they went back up at thirteen. But his ball handling
Speaker 1: looked just so much better. It looks comfortable with taking
Speaker 1: that midrange pull up to now right like the team
Speaker 1: stag off and he's he's taking in aggressively and and comfortably.
Speaker 1: So what what did you see from crustal town? I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought he was great. Well, so the first thing
Speaker 1: you said was the first thing that stood out to me,
Speaker 1: which is something you and I talked about immediately after
Speaker 1: Lebron's injury in that first couple of games where it
Speaker 1: looked really bad. Um, you and I talked about how
Speaker 1: excuse me, you and I talked about how you know,
Speaker 1: these guys need reps in their new roles because they
Speaker 1: were all all of a sudden slid up a few
Speaker 1: levels in what they were being asked to to to do.
Speaker 1: So it was it was bound to have like kind
Speaker 1: of a bumpy road there at the beginning, And like
Speaker 1: you said, all those reps appear to have paid off.
Speaker 1: The you know, you touched on a lot of the
Speaker 1: important details involving his passing and his pull up shooting. Um,
Speaker 1: he's actually a smarter playmaker than I think we've given
Speaker 1: him credit over the season. The big one that stood
Speaker 1: out to me is, like, you know, Alexe Crusoe is
Speaker 1: a big guard, Like, he's six ft six, really good athlete.
Speaker 1: Um jumps better than most of the players on the
Speaker 1: floor and So what I think he's kind of figured
Speaker 1: out in the last week is that when he goes
Speaker 1: to the rim, people have to foul him, or people
Speaker 1: or like they're going to struggle to out jump him.
Speaker 1: And there were a couple of places tonight where you
Speaker 1: can tell he kind of is unlocked that, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I have a little bit of a step here. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna go as fast as I can and jump
Speaker 1: as high as I can and get into these bodies.
Speaker 1: And I think, because I'm a good athlete, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get a lot of calls, or if they don't founld me,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna finish. And he there in that second half,
Speaker 1: he had several layups driving the basketball, and he had
Speaker 1: several plays where he just dropped drew fouls because he
Speaker 1: got the defense out of position. And and that's the thing, like,
Speaker 1: use what your strengths are. Like if you're a kemba walker,
Speaker 1: you need to be shifty, you need to get guys
Speaker 1: off balance, you need to use your skill set. But
Speaker 1: Alex Cruz was a great athlete at the point guard position,
Speaker 1: and and he's unlocked that a little bit and used
Speaker 1: it to his advantage to make up for some of
Speaker 1: his skill deficiencies, and I think that was really smart. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And like I wrote here, like uh Ac versus Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: because like Chris Paul does a lot of those things
Speaker 1: where he's like one of the smartest basketball players ever
Speaker 1: as well. Right, his i Q was insane and like
Speaker 1: they trusted him to be the one to kind of
Speaker 1: chase him over screens and he's never gonna win, like
Speaker 1: a who's right, right, Like when Chris Paul looks at
Speaker 1: the ref and like they's never gonna He's never gonna
Speaker 1: win those. He tried to win a few of those
Speaker 1: and he got like his fourth and fifth foule. But
Speaker 1: I thought he was just excellent tonight going around the
Speaker 1: screens of Chris Paul, staying on his back contesting Chris
Speaker 1: Paul is amazing. He had a few mid range pull
Speaker 1: ups in his face. I thought he was just incredible
Speaker 1: on him tonight and that two way play man. And
Speaker 1: again this is all I hate how to your radical
Speaker 1: this is, But like if we can get this Caruso
Speaker 1: with you know, Lebron back and a d with who
Speaker 1: he is, it just changes um the ceiling and floor
Speaker 1: of this team even higher. Because last I think I
Speaker 1: said last year Crusoe walked in the playoffs as like
Speaker 1: a thirty three point shooter and he hit timely ones
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. But he's walking in this year as
Speaker 1: at three point shooter, and he's taking them so confidently,
Speaker 1: even in transition. There's a few that I whish like
Speaker 1: he didn't shoot, but I just love the how confident
Speaker 1: he's taking them. He gets him in the corner, if
Speaker 1: he's open, he shoots it, and he hits big shots.
Speaker 1: He had big ones in the first quarter as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's just cool to see his his offense
Speaker 1: grow and we get something out of those games where
Speaker 1: Lebron didn't play shoot died in play right, it feels
Speaker 1: like we've got some reps for him and and I
Speaker 1: guess we can kind of move as well the th
Speaker 1: HD who like, I feel like this was a bad
Speaker 1: THC game in overall, Like, but I think they need
Speaker 1: I think they needed it, if that makes sense, Like
Speaker 1: they needed someone to like where you can dribble and
Speaker 1: create a shot and at least it wasn't a turnover.
Speaker 1: He has a lot of creative, creative drives, but I
Speaker 1: think he found um. I forgot who we found in
Speaker 1: the corner late. I don't remember Phils West or KCP. Um,
Speaker 1: what do you see from him? I thought, I thought
Speaker 1: he had a he had a not not a good
Speaker 1: game for him. But I think they needed like his
Speaker 1: ball handling tonight. You know, I agree, I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think I think, uh, it takes away some of
Speaker 1: the absolute need to have guys like you know KCP
Speaker 1: and Ben McLemore over dribbling and doing things that kind
Speaker 1: of take them out of their skill set. Like you know,
Speaker 1: KCP had a really good game tonight, I thought, and
Speaker 1: it was because he was kind of slid back into
Speaker 1: his proper role as a guy who's attacking off a
Speaker 1: closeout and off ball. Um. You know, I've I've said
Speaker 1: all there is to say really about th h T.
Speaker 1: I mean, I thought, I thought a couple of striking things.
Speaker 1: I thought a couple of striking typical things happened with
Speaker 1: him tonight. He Uh, he was one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why UM campaign got going a little bit was his
Speaker 1: lack of atteniveness defensively. Um there was a play where
Speaker 1: off of a double team in the post where he
Speaker 1: was wide open on the right wing. I think this
Speaker 1: was actually the first half, and he just shot a
Speaker 1: brick of a three that like went two ft over
Speaker 1: the rim and went carrying off the backboard. I'm in
Speaker 1: two songs. I had to listen to the Sun's broadcast,
Speaker 1: and the Sun's broadcasters were like, whoa that was? That
Speaker 1: was a bad miss anyway, Like he he his spacing
Speaker 1: is going to be a legitimate concern in the playoffs series.
Speaker 1: He's he's a guy that you don't have to guard
Speaker 1: on the perimeter um. And and then just in general,
Speaker 1: just consistent decision making, which I think is one of
Speaker 1: the biggest reasons why Lebron is in such a good
Speaker 1: playoff player in his career, is like he just hemorrhages
Speaker 1: less possessions in the other team and more consistently will
Speaker 1: will identify the best available shot, and that kind of
Speaker 1: like little decision making on the margins makes such a
Speaker 1: big difference. And so in a in a you know,
Speaker 1: in in these playoff games, like two or three bad
Speaker 1: decisions from th HT can can swing a series. And
Speaker 1: and that to me is stuff that I've harped on
Speaker 1: all season. I'm such a believer. He had another play
Speaker 1: tonight that was like a superstar play he like split
Speaker 1: a pick and roll and Sari was waiting for him
Speaker 1: at the rim and he just did like a power
Speaker 1: dribble right into Sarge's chest and starts like just caved
Speaker 1: in and backed away, and then he had a wide
Speaker 1: open lay up after It's like that's that's like, that's
Speaker 1: like star level stuff. And so I'm I, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say the company line again here, which
Speaker 1: is that I love th h T. I don't want
Speaker 1: to see him in the playoff rotation. That's just my
Speaker 1: kind of take on it. Yeah, Like I think that
Speaker 1: first play that he came in, he left campaign open.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, man, like that he's gonna get
Speaker 1: in the rhythm and he and he absolutely did not.
Speaker 1: I just love watching him drive though, right because you
Speaker 1: can tell he just thinking in his head, like what
Speaker 1: do I do? Like even on a Starge play he's
Speaker 1: like driving, He's like, okay, I'm just gonna bully him
Speaker 1: in the chest and at work that time the drive,
Speaker 1: he'd be like, okay, let me three sixty dribble, spin
Speaker 1: passed it to the corner, it goes out of the
Speaker 1: bounds and he's like surprised. So yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but like just to move on from like THHD to
Speaker 1: go on your point, like a guy who's probably a
Speaker 1: little bit more reliable is like Wes Matthews, right. I
Speaker 1: think it was cool to see him. Like again, like
Speaker 1: these are guys that it feels like they're going on
Speaker 1: like a linear curve. Rather they're improving at like a
Speaker 1: linear rate like West Matthews now is like starting to
Speaker 1: play good and consistent games. Get a good game I
Speaker 1: think against Portland as well. Um, And and he's defending well,
Speaker 1: like he's he's hitting shots. He had like a really
Speaker 1: cool three off a d Um turning corner, turning the
Speaker 1: corner and yeah, so so it's good to see him. Uh.
Speaker 1: And like this seems like a playoff matchup that's going
Speaker 1: to happen. It feels like to me, Um, this seems
Speaker 1: like the likely scenario. Um for me, like my biggest
Speaker 1: thing for this for this matchup, I wanted to do
Speaker 1: this after the Clipper game, but it just didn't matter
Speaker 1: because they didn't take it as serious. Um. What was
Speaker 1: your biggest like takeaway as like a playoff matchup? Mine
Speaker 1: is definitely the size. I guess is there anything else
Speaker 1: that you saw that's like really glaring if these two
Speaker 1: teams play playing the playoffs. Well, so a couple of things.
Speaker 1: So first of all, no one can guard Anthony Anamos.
Speaker 1: That that is that is the the absolutely terrifying thing
Speaker 1: if you're a Phoenix Suns fan. Is no one on
Speaker 1: that roster even remotely bothered Anthony Davis. Like there were
Speaker 1: a couple of plays where even Jay Crowder opted for
Speaker 1: a lot of ball pressure as a d was dribbling
Speaker 1: further away from the basket, which is something that you
Speaker 1: and I have talked about a lot that we don't
Speaker 1: love Anthony Davis and that type of matchup. And even
Speaker 1: then he was able to patiently just kind of wait
Speaker 1: for Jay to gamble one way and then just kind
Speaker 1: of spin off of him and go down the lane.
Speaker 1: And he drew a couple of fouls that way, got
Speaker 1: into the lane, and maybe there was another one where
Speaker 1: he missed the layup, but Drummond was right there to
Speaker 1: clean it up. Like he there was no one on
Speaker 1: the roster that could guard him. So that's that's number one.
Speaker 1: You're the most exciting thing about a playoff match up.
Speaker 1: There is just the way that that can warp everything
Speaker 1: in the way that the Suns have to to change
Speaker 1: their defense. And then secondly, you know, I thought with
Speaker 1: the Laker defense, you know, they did a really good
Speaker 1: job of making things extremely difficult for for Booker and
Speaker 1: Chris Paul while at the same time, like not leaving
Speaker 1: such gaping openings on the back end that the younger
Speaker 1: players on the roster were able to make them pay. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, like they did a good job of closing
Speaker 1: off the rotations quick enough so that you know, mediocre
Speaker 1: to blow average playmakers off of the ball. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: like Micail Bridges or whether it was you know, DeAndre
Speaker 1: and catching the ball. There just wasn't anything available there.
Speaker 1: And I thought that was really impressive. And the Laker
Speaker 1: the Laker defense. I tweeted about this tonight, like I
Speaker 1: was actually watching the Clippers game today, and I thought
Speaker 1: to myself, like, you know, everyone's talking about this Knick's
Speaker 1: defense and how it, you know, was making the Clippers struggle.
Speaker 1: But that's what the Lakers look like when they're trying,
Speaker 1: you know, that's what's so exciting, and and that's what
Speaker 1: they did. That's what they did tonight. They just they
Speaker 1: went through stretches where they were they were stifling and
Speaker 1: everyone helps each other, and it was just it was
Speaker 1: just really really fun to watch. And and I I
Speaker 1: personally think that that just in and of itself makes
Speaker 1: them so difficult to beat in a seven game series
Speaker 1: and throw the throw in Lebron into that whole mess
Speaker 1: and in the way that Anthony Davis warps all the
Speaker 1: matchups and and and I think that as long as
Speaker 1: they can get through the playing game, which is gonna
Speaker 1: be tricky, um, you know, on account of the health problems. UM,
Speaker 1: as long as they can get through that playing game,
Speaker 1: I actually think that's a really good first round matchup
Speaker 1: for the Lakers to kind of get their sea legs. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: And just watching tonight, like they put a Craig on
Speaker 1: a D and I think Michail Bridges trying to switch
Speaker 1: on him a few times as well. But I guess
Speaker 1: those two would get the main kind of uh thing
Speaker 1: on Lebron in a D, right, you know, in a series.
Speaker 1: And I'm just wondering like where they go with the
Speaker 1: UM and like, I guess my main takeaway tonight was
Speaker 1: like they were able to take shots away from like
Speaker 1: Devon Booker, Chris Paul while also limiting the three point attempts, right,
Speaker 1: I think Penis had like thirteen three point attempts at
Speaker 1: the half, and they average like thirty five thirty six um.
Speaker 1: And then those the biggest things. They were able to
Speaker 1: shut down their guards while also getting out to three
Speaker 1: point shooters um. And that's how they gonna have to
Speaker 1: defend in a series. And we saw why they can.
Speaker 1: They can do that because a D was able to
Speaker 1: play at play at his his level and oh I
Speaker 1: with this, but yeah, yeah, like Laby, a D was
Speaker 1: able to play at his generational defensive level and he's
Speaker 1: gonna have to in a series against them. And I
Speaker 1: thought he was the biggest key ye because he was
Speaker 1: able to switch on christ Ball, switch on Devon Booker
Speaker 1: and really make them not even get shots up. And
Speaker 1: I thought that was the biggest, biggest thing. I do
Speaker 1: you have anything else from in this game tonight? Well,
Speaker 1: just lastly about the defense, Like it's so cool the
Speaker 1: way that when you really really shut down a team defensively,
Speaker 1: they start to miss the open ones too, and uh
Speaker 1: that like you could tell, like Devin Booker for most
Speaker 1: of the game, he wasn't you know, like pump picking
Speaker 1: a ghosts exactly, but you could see his aggression tone
Speaker 1: way back as a result of the fact, like he
Speaker 1: just felt uncomfortable throughout the game. And oh, use one example,
Speaker 1: there was a play where he beat KCP backdoors in
Speaker 1: the first half and KCP was just dead two rights
Speaker 1: the Devin Booker's got it under the basket. KCP shorter
Speaker 1: than him, and Devin Bookers can basically pick either side.
Speaker 1: He can pump, fake and drop out whatever he wants
Speaker 1: to do. But Montrese Harold was guarding I think it
Speaker 1: was sorry it's but somebody in the corner, and Montrese
Speaker 1: Harold just like just in a in a great read,
Speaker 1: just bailed on his man and came flying in and
Speaker 1: and just swallowed up Devin Booker and he ended up
Speaker 1: kicking it out. Actually the play actually ended, I think
Speaker 1: in Jay crowd are drawing a foul on at three
Speaker 1: point shot. But the point is is like even when
Speaker 1: Devin Booker thought he had an easy look on KCP,
Speaker 1: there came another another wave of the Laker defense to
Speaker 1: throw him off, and then it gets to the point
Speaker 1: where all of a sudden he will break free around
Speaker 1: the eight ten foot line off of a couple of
Speaker 1: dribbles in the counter and he'll miss like a ten
Speaker 1: footer because he has no rhythm, because because he has
Speaker 1: felt uncomfortable all night, and it just throws everything off.
Speaker 1: And that's my favorite thing about what the Laker's identity
Speaker 1: is is it's just like, you're not going to get
Speaker 1: anything easy on us, and and if you're going to
Speaker 1: beat us, you're gonna have to beat us just by
Speaker 1: consistently making tough shots over the top of our guards.
Speaker 1: Like that's how you're gonna have to beat us. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And they were. They were everywhere tonight right, they were
Speaker 1: switching trapping on the screen of roles that they didn't
Speaker 1: allow Chris Paul and Devil Booker to really get anything going.
Speaker 1: I think Chris Paul all his shots were tough in
Speaker 1: my opinion, Like I didn't feel like, did you see
Speaker 1: him get any easy looks? I thought all of his
Speaker 1: shots were pretty contested, uh sa. Devin Booker had a
Speaker 1: few good shots in the paint, but I thought for
Speaker 1: him as well, they were all contested and they were
Speaker 1: flying around. Um I think a d went to the
Speaker 1: floor a little bit too many times from my life,
Speaker 1: but but he set the tone, right, Like, his aggressiveness
Speaker 1: on both ends kind of uh, kind of set the
Speaker 1: tone here tonight and they got a huge win. Um Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if this really matters in terms of
Speaker 1: like standing, because again, I feel like we're pretty locked in.
Speaker 1: But I feel like they're they're starting to build some rhythm, right,
Speaker 1: some build some build some habits that are good and
Speaker 1: and it's good to see like them being serious about
Speaker 1: these games, starting to treat them as like playoff reps
Speaker 1: because they definitely weren't doing that before. And and also
Speaker 1: like I guess the last guy had written down here
Speaker 1: is like Ben mcilmore that you've been you've been behind
Speaker 1: for a while. And again he does I'm gonna win
Speaker 1: you over eventually with him, Yeah, he's never met a
Speaker 1: shot that he doesn't like, right, like something some of
Speaker 1: the shots are just like he touches the ball and
Speaker 1: he's like okay. And I feel like that that's what
Speaker 1: they've told him as well, right like, hey, like when
Speaker 1: you get the ball, just shooted, don't think about playmaking,
Speaker 1: don't think about trying to really make too many reads
Speaker 1: and and that's his that's his job there, And I
Speaker 1: think it has more positive than negatives. But he did
Speaker 1: take a few wild shots and I thought like he
Speaker 1: defended okay tonight, like it wasn't great yet, a few
Speaker 1: off off the ball things there, but yeah, he was.
Speaker 1: He was really good. And the team, it feels like
Speaker 1: they're getting getting deep. The guys are getting in rhythm.
Speaker 1: They can get Shrewder back just for these last few games.
Speaker 1: And and Lebron we'll see, hopefully he comes back pretty soon. Um.
Speaker 1: I feel like they're on the right rhythm. No one
Speaker 1: wants to play them. That feels pretty key. I think
Speaker 1: this was a big game for the Suns. I think
Speaker 1: they wanted the one seed as well, and I feel
Speaker 1: like he just took it to him right. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: real quickly on macklamore before you start taking guests, is uh,
Speaker 1: you know a couple of things. You know, we've worried
Speaker 1: about his defense a lot, but as I've always said,
Speaker 1: like you there, you don't have to necessarily worry about
Speaker 1: that in individual defense within the scheme of the Lakers,
Speaker 1: as long as you play hard in the rotations. And
Speaker 1: there were actually a couple of plays there in the
Speaker 1: second half where Devin Booker got mcklemore on an Island
Speaker 1: and the Lakers just sent the Lakers just sent it
Speaker 1: double and they were able to make Booker give it
Speaker 1: up and rotate back out and and nothing was open.
Speaker 1: And and to me, that was when I saw that happen,
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, well here you go. This is
Speaker 1: the point is like within the Laker defense, you don't
Speaker 1: have to necessarily be able to guard everybody. You just
Speaker 1: have to play your role, which is if you can't
Speaker 1: guard a guy, you're gonna have to be able to
Speaker 1: exist in the chaos of the rotations. And then when
Speaker 1: you are off the ball, you have to hold up
Speaker 1: your end of that bargain. And and that's what makes
Speaker 1: it work. And then as far as his green light,
Speaker 1: you know, I think his green light, it manifests in
Speaker 1: more than just him making shots at manifests in spacing.
Speaker 1: And you know, when when the when the other coaches
Speaker 1: on the white board in the locker room before the
Speaker 1: game down, you cannot leave this guy open because he's
Speaker 1: going to shoot it. If you give him an inch
Speaker 1: of space, that changes the way that that help defender
Speaker 1: has to play. And to me, there there's a lot
Speaker 1: of advantage to that. I you know, I'm not necessarily
Speaker 1: saying he should be in the closing line up. So
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily saying he should start or anything ridiculous
Speaker 1: like that. I just think that he very easily fits
Speaker 1: a role on this team that I think works. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's like pretty much the only guy that than like
Speaker 1: k CP right that that can get hot in a quarter,
Speaker 1: that can hit like four threes and like a five
Speaker 1: six minute stretch. And I think they need that for
Speaker 1: a team that really, especially right now, that's struggling to
Speaker 1: kind of score, especially in the half court. They need
Speaker 1: a guy that can just get hot and he doesn't
Speaker 1: need that much space. So once he gets one to go,
Speaker 1: you can tell his confidence just goes up, right, and
Speaker 1: once he kids want, he's going to take the other
Speaker 1: one as soon as he as soon as he catches it. Um,
Speaker 1: do you have anything else from tonight? Before I kind
Speaker 1: of bring some people up here. Let's get some questions, man,
Speaker 1: I'm ready, all right, get your request in. I will
Speaker 1: see how many we can kind of get to. But
Speaker 1: get some get your requestions if you want to come
Speaker 1: up here and speak. Let's start with I think Tony
Speaker 1: was first, by the way, quote from Jovan Buja that
Speaker 1: we were tagged in Anthony Davis on his confidence in
Speaker 1: Lebron James getting back to playing like Lebron James quote
Speaker 1: what I saw from Lebron today? He'll be fine. He'll
Speaker 1: be fine. End quote. That's good. That's good. It's very good. Tony,
Speaker 1: what's up? Can you hear us? Hello? Can you hear me?
Speaker 1: I can hear you? What's going on? Hey? What's up?
Speaker 1: So for this question, this is gonna be based on
Speaker 1: the assuming we get the seventh seed, right, so, um,
Speaker 1: the path is probably gonna go through, uh, the three
Speaker 1: best teams in my opinion in the West of Sons, Clippers, Jazz. Right,
Speaker 1: and because the like the Lakers are going to have
Speaker 1: like very low continuity going into the playoffs, what do
Speaker 1: you guys think they can do to like adjust to
Speaker 1: that and um take control of series so that like
Speaker 1: they avoid going down too far before they get to
Speaker 1: figure out their opponent. If you understand what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say, Well, first of all, it's still in play.
Speaker 1: I'm looking up the standings, like it's still in play
Speaker 1: for Denver to get the three seed. Yes, don't check here. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're a game away and they have the time breaker
Speaker 1: m hmm, yeah, yeah, So I tend to think that,
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to the difficulty of the
Speaker 1: playoff run, the most important thing is not messing around.
Speaker 1: And this is something that the Lakers did a really
Speaker 1: good job of last year, uh in the sense that
Speaker 1: they closed out their opponents in five gamers each time.
Speaker 1: So it made it so that there was additional rest
Speaker 1: because the physical wear and tear of the postseason will
Speaker 1: manifest if you keep getting locked into these long series.
Speaker 1: I mean, the perfect example of that is the two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen heat who got roped into a seven gamer
Speaker 1: with the Pacers and then you could just tell that
Speaker 1: they were physically worn out when when they got into
Speaker 1: the Spurs and then in that series dragged out. So
Speaker 1: my thing is like, let's say you face the Suns
Speaker 1: in the first round. You're better than them. Don't let
Speaker 1: that get extended, you know, like physically mal them. Take
Speaker 1: care of business, and that series in five, and then
Speaker 1: by the time you're facing the Clippers or the or
Speaker 1: the Nuggets wherever it is that you have to face
Speaker 1: in the next round, you have four or five days
Speaker 1: off to get your legs back, and then at that
Speaker 1: point it's just argued a better team as long as
Speaker 1: you're not getting physically worn down, it's just about whether
Speaker 1: or not you're a better team. So I don't worry
Speaker 1: so much about the playoff path as much as I
Speaker 1: do about them not getting roped into great long series
Speaker 1: that that physically wear them down, especially with how fragile
Speaker 1: a D can be. Yeah, I think they just need
Speaker 1: to really get through that first round, right, get Lebron's
Speaker 1: legs under him, a D starting to get his legs
Speaker 1: on them, but like, just get a full series, Um,
Speaker 1: get some confidence at the wins in that first playoff series,
Speaker 1: and I think they'll be fine. Um, Lebron has that
Speaker 1: tendency to lose game ones, which I mean I can
Speaker 1: totally see happening again this year. And that's why I'm
Speaker 1: little That's why I'm a little bit like worried about
Speaker 1: the playing game. I don't like that we get just
Speaker 1: one game to kind of figure out one team. But
Speaker 1: if you can get through that, and I'm not really
Speaker 1: worried about that first round series, I think they'll sit down.
Speaker 1: They'll they'll be able to like look through look at
Speaker 1: a team fully through a whole seven game series. Um,
Speaker 1: they can adjust the way they want to and really
Speaker 1: put the foot down. This team is really versatile when
Speaker 1: they're healthy, right, they have all these kind of pieces
Speaker 1: they can kind of plug and play around Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d And I think if they can just get
Speaker 1: through that first series, which I don't think it will
Speaker 1: be easy. I mean, they beat Phoenix tonight, but I
Speaker 1: think that's still gonna be a hell of a series.
Speaker 1: In round one, Lebron just jumping right back in. Um
Speaker 1: So I think you just get through that. I think
Speaker 1: they'll be fine. Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. All right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you, thanks man, I apportunately coming over. I think
Speaker 1: uh Brett was next. They can get your request and
Speaker 1: I'll see how I maybe we can get to you tonight.
Speaker 1: But yeah, just get your and can get your request
Speaker 1: in Roger's playing hurt tonight guy as he lost. Ye
Speaker 1: apologies apologies from my voice bread, can you hear us? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What's up, guys, what's going on it? Hey? Um So
Speaker 1: my question is markis Morris got a d NP today?
Speaker 1: I just want to know what you guys think his
Speaker 1: role is going to be down the strate, especially now
Speaker 1: that the possibility of a Marcosol Montrose Harold playing the
Speaker 1: four um type of line up starting to come, but
Speaker 1: what do we expect from Markief coming forward? So I
Speaker 1: thought it was pretty matchup specific. I think the Lakers
Speaker 1: knew that that Phoenix was a team that, outside of
Speaker 1: DeAndre at and was very thin on the front line,
Speaker 1: and they were under the impression that going big would
Speaker 1: give them a chance to win a game that they
Speaker 1: thought they really needed to win, not just for the standings,
Speaker 1: but for the confidence of that team. Um. The remaining
Speaker 1: schedule for the Lakers is relatively achievable. UM that I
Speaker 1: think this game against New York in a couple of
Speaker 1: nights is actually gonna be the toughest one they have
Speaker 1: in that group. So tonight was kind of a little
Speaker 1: bit of a must win for the Lakers, And so
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, they went big to try to win
Speaker 1: the matchup. And I think when they get into matchups
Speaker 1: with teams like you know that are a little bit
Speaker 1: more switchy, that they need spacing more, I think you'll
Speaker 1: see a little bit more marks when they need when
Speaker 1: they need to go small. Um. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, like I think Frank has shown that
Speaker 1: he's gonna play the center rotation based on matchups, and
Speaker 1: tonight was a night where that I think he thought
Speaker 1: they had a chance to bully Phoenix. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: feel like Mark Kief was just like he was a
Speaker 1: part of like not playing with Treads. I guess like
Speaker 1: that's and we touched on a little earlier, like I
Speaker 1: just didn't want to see them to kind of play together,
Speaker 1: and he was the odd man out tonight. But I
Speaker 1: think like you'll play in some matches some matchups as well,
Speaker 1: especially when his three point shooters going three point shooting
Speaker 1: is going. Um, I'd like to see him next to
Speaker 1: this all I guess as like that four or five
Speaker 1: um sometimes as well. But tonight he just didn't play
Speaker 1: because they went to that. They finally went to the
Speaker 1: treads and disol minutes um that we end that we
Speaker 1: were begging for. Um. I haven't checked like the plus
Speaker 1: minus on that yet tonight, but it just felt like
Speaker 1: it looked good. It looked good from the eye test.
Speaker 1: They had some things to work out, but I thought
Speaker 1: that Atlanta played really well. We'll see if they go
Speaker 1: to it against the Knicks were a little bit more
Speaker 1: of like the kind of bruising team. Un So we'll
Speaker 1: see if they play how the rotations were from there.
Speaker 1: A lot of it has to do with the way
Speaker 1: that the game is being officiated to like I you know,
Speaker 1: there were a lot of dude, you you would not
Speaker 1: believe that how much the Phoenix broadcast was complaining about officiating.
Speaker 1: It was like the the entire night just nonst Like
Speaker 1: at one point the Phoenix broadcasters literally said they were
Speaker 1: playing five on eight. And I'm not joking that would
Speaker 1: happen in their version of the broadcast. But in my opinion,
Speaker 1: the reason I always say this, so I've said this.
Speaker 1: You know, in this podcast format, you know, dozens of
Speaker 1: times the more physically aggressive team gets more calls. And
Speaker 1: it seems counterintuitive because you would think the team that's
Speaker 1: being physically aggressive is fouling, but that's not the case.
Speaker 1: The team that is being physically aggressive usually gets fouled
Speaker 1: because that's how the lazier, less physical team tries to
Speaker 1: compensate for their lack of physicality, and the refs noticed
Speaker 1: that and they usually reward that team. And I thought
Speaker 1: tonight the Lakers bullied the Sons into fouling them a lot. Uh.
Speaker 1: But and that has to do with you know, again,
Speaker 1: if the if the game is being officiated a different
Speaker 1: way and the Lakers size of being is isn't manifesting
Speaker 1: in a way that they can really do anything with,
Speaker 1: then hey, you go small to try Mark Keith. You
Speaker 1: go with more shooting and see if you can't give
Speaker 1: better driving lanes or whatever it is that you want
Speaker 1: to do. But again, the Lakers have flexibility, and I
Speaker 1: think that that's actually an advantage in the playoff series,
Speaker 1: not necessarily a bad thing. And we said just with
Speaker 1: the refs things, I thought it was funny watching this
Speaker 1: game and I'm just thinking about, like in a playoff series,
Speaker 1: havnna watch like Chris Paul Devin book or trying to
Speaker 1: draw those like but they're just driving and like you're
Speaker 1: just sliding with them and they just throw the ball
Speaker 1: up and they get the call. You know, those kind
Speaker 1: of calls are just really frustrating just to watch through
Speaker 1: like a full for the game in the game, and
Speaker 1: Chris Paul is really good good at that as well,
Speaker 1: right where you'll just fall, like you'll back into the
Speaker 1: guy walking up the core and you'll draw a foul
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden you're in the penalty. So
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a game within the game. Um,
Speaker 1: looking at that, I thought that the rest it was
Speaker 1: a weirdly officiated game. I thought in the first half
Speaker 1: there was a lot of feet though tonight to like,
Speaker 1: I know, a lot of them were fouls. It just
Speaker 1: it just felt like a really slow, non rhythm game.
Speaker 1: And maybe that's just how the playoffs are going to be.
Speaker 1: If you're more physical and you're just like banging down low,
Speaker 1: that's how that's how it go. Probably mm hmmp I agree.
Speaker 1: Any else for us? Brett, No, that was it. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. Thanks for man than the general attics.
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of people wanted more. A
Speaker 1: lot of people want an event. The other night, it
Speaker 1: looks like a little bit more of a positive vibe tonight. Yeah, General,
Speaker 1: are you there? No, can you guys hear me? What's
Speaker 1: going on? Man? What's up? Man? Thanks for bringing me on.
Speaker 1: I been listening to the pod wild a lot of time,
Speaker 1: a lot of fun while watching not watching to listen
Speaker 1: to it. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. My question or comment things
Speaker 1: is kind of focused on lineups and what Vocal might
Speaker 1: try to do heading into the playoffs for the lack
Speaker 1: of continuity, so you know, Denni's coming back potentially with
Speaker 1: COVID and then combined with Caruso over especially the last
Speaker 1: like two months, but also just two two years in
Speaker 1: the league now kind of looks like he can be
Speaker 1: like a starting caliber player without necessarily playing starter caliber
Speaker 1: starter caliber minutes. Did that makes sense? So I was thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, doesn't make sense for Caruso to keep the
Speaker 1: starting job and for Dennis to do what Jason said
Speaker 1: like the beginning of the year and come off the
Speaker 1: bench kind of set the tone on defense for the
Speaker 1: bench unit. And also just you know, look to score relentlessly,
Speaker 1: like you know with with mar and i'm our you know,
Speaker 1: trust Drummond on the bank bank you know, and sort
Speaker 1: of matches. So I think I'm a big believer in
Speaker 1: giving a giving shooter a chance to be very aggressive
Speaker 1: in minutes where Lebron and maybe are one of them
Speaker 1: are off the floor. Typically the best way to do that,
Speaker 1: uh is by bringing a guy off the bench. But
Speaker 1: you can accomplish that by staggering and honestly man like,
Speaker 1: as much as I'd like to say, like, hey, bring
Speaker 1: shooter off the bench, like he's earned that starting spot.
Speaker 1: He's been really good this year, He's defended extremely well.
Speaker 1: His playmaking has taken a massive leap, especially in the
Speaker 1: last month or two. I I I think Shrewder deserves
Speaker 1: the spot. The only thing that will get tricky. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's built up some bad blood in
Speaker 1: the organization, uh, with his recklessness surrounding Covid and his
Speaker 1: absence at this point in the season. But I can't
Speaker 1: speak to that. That's all speculation, I I. But then
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, like when it comes
Speaker 1: to their best lineups, I do think it's fair to
Speaker 1: point out that Shrewder size can be a problem and
Speaker 1: there will be teams out there that will relentlessly attack
Speaker 1: shooter or for being a six foot relatively fan guard.
Speaker 1: And you can put lineups as the Lakers out there
Speaker 1: that have Caruso, you know, KCP, Kuzma, Lebron a d
Speaker 1: that are a little more switchable, a little uh, a
Speaker 1: bit more stout physically at every position and give yourself
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit better chance in specific matchups. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I'm super stoked about how well Caruso has played
Speaker 1: and him getting so much better makes those lineups a
Speaker 1: lot more exciting. But man, Dennis has been really good
Speaker 1: this year, And I mean I can't. I can't like
Speaker 1: look at that dude in the face and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: you're you belong on the bench like he's been. He's
Speaker 1: been very clearly the third best player this year, and
Speaker 1: he carried them for a long stretch here with Lebron
Speaker 1: and a D out. Yeah, and Caruso is going to
Speaker 1: close a lot of games, right, Like, I'm not really
Speaker 1: worried about whether he starts or it comes off the bench.
Speaker 1: I'm shooter has been great defensively well. To see how
Speaker 1: he comes back. I think he's gonna have to get
Speaker 1: his conditioning back. So I'm like, I'm okay, maybe he
Speaker 1: comes off the bench that first game he comes back,
Speaker 1: but he'll be a starter. Like his defense has been
Speaker 1: too good. I think earlier before the season started, we
Speaker 1: said maybe he'll come off the bench to be that
Speaker 1: plug score, but his defense is just too good. And
Speaker 1: then you get all the ball handling, you get the
Speaker 1: offensive creation, not only worries like just the timing like
Speaker 1: they just not I've had the reps together, right, Lebron,
Speaker 1: a D and Shrewder still only played like twenty something
Speaker 1: games together. It's even less if you have the sling
Speaker 1: of it even less if you and none I think
Speaker 1: with Drummond together, right, So that's my only concern here
Speaker 1: is that just the reps. But I think that's why
Speaker 1: that first round is so important to me, Like it's
Speaker 1: just they can just get through that. I think like
Speaker 1: they'll be able to just really get on a run here. Um,
Speaker 1: those guys just need some games together, some high level situations.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, I think Shrewder should should definitely start
Speaker 1: when he comes back. I think he's, like you said, Jaze,
Speaker 1: he's earned it. He's played really well, he's had a
Speaker 1: Greek season. Um, his three point shooting also starting to
Speaker 1: come come around. It sucks that this happened at this
Speaker 1: time because I feel like you were starting to find
Speaker 1: a groove, like a really nice mix between being aggressive
Speaker 1: and being a shock creator. And it just this is
Speaker 1: just out of the season and stuff like it's gone though.
Speaker 1: Two steps forward, one step back kind of thing. But he's, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he's definitely gonna be the starter when he comes back. Agree,
Speaker 1: So I guess I don't really have all of this
Speaker 1: request Well yeah, but more people, if you want to
Speaker 1: request getting you don't have asked the question. Just bring
Speaker 1: up an idea or anything. Um, George, can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Ge are you there? I think I can hear him.
Speaker 1: You go, George, can y'all hear me? Yeah? Here you are?
Speaker 1: What's going on? Man? Lost him again? Request back? I'll
Speaker 1: get you up here. Let's see. I'll just like I guess,
Speaker 1: while I'm waiting for a George's request back, I'll just
Speaker 1: read this quote real quick. UM shout out Kelly. She
Speaker 1: she shared it with me. Um. Frank said he liked
Speaker 1: the market treadsparing. I guess they were a minus nine tonight,
Speaker 1: which it just didn't feel that he must have listened
Speaker 1: to our locker room because we were talking about that
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago. But one thing I wanted to ask,
Speaker 1: I don't think Keith planned. Don't know if it was
Speaker 1: health related or maybe a riscause I know he's been struggling.
Speaker 1: But do you guys like what they did with the
Speaker 1: center rotation? And because I thought Keith would be good
Speaker 1: for this matchup, So just general thoughts on that we
Speaker 1: talked about this a little bit earlier. I think the
Speaker 1: Lakers saw this as a bit of a must win
Speaker 1: for any of their chances to try to get out
Speaker 1: of the plane and the sun's outside of DeAndre Aton
Speaker 1: are very thin on the front line. You know, they're
Speaker 1: they've got big, switchy wings, but you know, crowd is
Speaker 1: a bit short. You know, Bridges and Kim Johnson are
Speaker 1: both very thin. You know. Sorry, it isn't very mobile
Speaker 1: and he's not exactly a defensive stalwart. They lack that
Speaker 1: interior presence and I think Frank went all in on
Speaker 1: trying to bully them. And if you look at the
Speaker 1: lineups tiny he basically played two centers for most of
Speaker 1: the game. If you count a D a center, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of a D and Drummond, and then a
Speaker 1: D and Mark and then Mark and Trez and Tres
Speaker 1: and drum and it was just like a vicious cycle
Speaker 1: of Actually, I don't think Tres and drum and play tonight,
Speaker 1: but they they just always had two bigs on the floor.
Speaker 1: And I think that was a purposeful attempt to just
Speaker 1: physically main handle Phoenix, And honestly, I thought, strategically, at
Speaker 1: least for tonight, that it worked really well. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: funny because we did like a Son's preview, right, I
Speaker 1: think the last spaces I can't remember, but um, I
Speaker 1: think we said Tress could play because they play with
Speaker 1: Sorry as the backup five usually, and even tonight they
Speaker 1: actually went away from that. They went with Kaminski first,
Speaker 1: he was ahead of him in the rotation. But I
Speaker 1: still think that's a guy that Tras can play against
Speaker 1: right commits. He is not going to really mean he's
Speaker 1: a good shooter, but he's not gonna really kill you
Speaker 1: in the post, and the trust can really go at him,
Speaker 1: go through his chest. And yeah, I thought that was
Speaker 1: a reason. Again, all these centers just feel matchup dependent
Speaker 1: to me, Like eight is gonna hopefully play the five
Speaker 1: when it matters because I was gonna play hopefully more
Speaker 1: of the minutes and then drum in Tres even keep.
Speaker 1: They're all kind of matchup. So I like what they did. Again.
Speaker 1: Vogel coach and I has a playoff game. I thought
Speaker 1: this was like the first maybe against Denver as well,
Speaker 1: he did a little bit, but like tonight, I feel
Speaker 1: like the really first one that he coached, Like, okay,
Speaker 1: I want to win this game, and the center minutes
Speaker 1: kind of match match that. Yeah, because he he pulled
Speaker 1: he put market and first got off the bench and
Speaker 1: pulled Drummond right away. I know Drummond was in foul trouble,
Speaker 1: but I like to see that because he wasn't really
Speaker 1: doing as much last game. So yeah, yeah, I agree
Speaker 1: chasing you anything else on that, I'm good man. I
Speaker 1: agree with you guys. All right, Thank you boys. Joy
Speaker 1: is always see you Tuesday, Yes, sir. Next, it's a
Speaker 1: six eight something. I six eight on a good day.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's his real name, but what's up? No,
Speaker 1: the real name, the real name is Baylor. But I
Speaker 1: just I have I have two questions for you guys.
Speaker 1: What's going on? Well? All right, Well, one of the
Speaker 1: questions is, um, do the Lakers, you know, go with
Speaker 1: the guys that they went with last year in the playoffs?
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously Drumming is a new addition guy, but
Speaker 1: I mean other than him, those guys that was with
Speaker 1: you in the trenches for those three series, Um, do
Speaker 1: you go with those same guys? Because I would think
Speaker 1: those guys like obviously like still like you know, all
Speaker 1: the sets and everything that they use getting into their
Speaker 1: plays of the ship. You know, more than that, it's
Speaker 1: just chemistry, man, especially with their lack of cont duty
Speaker 1: that they've had this year. Like I I I think
Speaker 1: that he'll still be very I don't want to say experimental,
Speaker 1: but I think you'll still see a lot of new
Speaker 1: stuff in the in the early games of the series.
Speaker 1: But make no mistake, dude, if it's first round Phoenix
Speaker 1: Series tied at two fourth quarter, close game, you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a lot of Lebron, a d k CP, Kusma,
Speaker 1: and Cruz. So I think that I think that you know,
Speaker 1: when the ship hits the fan for lack of a
Speaker 1: better term, that they're going to default is something that
Speaker 1: they've got a lot of reps with, just because it's
Speaker 1: going to give them their best chance to win in
Speaker 1: those super high leverage moments. Yeah. And I think I
Speaker 1: was looking at the lineup data that find my in
Speaker 1: line up data, those dudes haven't even played I think,
Speaker 1: like twenty minutes together this season. So those all those
Speaker 1: guys who are like um in the bubble, Uh, those guys,
Speaker 1: I think I can pull it up here. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those dudes have played eight minutes together this season. The Lebron, Davis, KCP, Crusoe, Kuzma,
Speaker 1: those dudes who were in the bubble who won the
Speaker 1: title eight minutes together. So they haven't really got to
Speaker 1: see it, but yeah, I think I think they can
Speaker 1: go to it in the bubble. I mean, not in
Speaker 1: the playoffs this year, but we just have not seen
Speaker 1: them really recreate that that that line up again this year,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that had to do with health,
Speaker 1: but also they're just not playing that lineup. But hopefully
Speaker 1: they'll go to it in the playoffs. Also, like I
Speaker 1: think Braun at or because he said he wasn't going
Speaker 1: to be up, I think eighty or seventy percent, he's
Speaker 1: still better than um, you know, probably your second option
Speaker 1: on whoever team, like whatever stars you know, that person
Speaker 1: or help maybe even that star. Lebron is still not
Speaker 1: bad um. But I know, like when it's back is
Speaker 1: against the wall, like one of the Lakers that ever,
Speaker 1: just go to a lineup just him at the point
Speaker 1: guard and just about cheese and everything, you know, but
Speaker 1: you know probably not I running more is at like
Speaker 1: the five and just having like Brin at the one
Speaker 1: and just you know, just killing everybody because you can't
Speaker 1: guard everybody. So Lebron just penetrating. Man, just he just
Speaker 1: gonna kill you. Every time. They did a lot of
Speaker 1: that in the postseason and one of the big reasons
Speaker 1: why is that Keith was just shooting so well. Uh,
Speaker 1: And you know, Mark Keith, I think he's he's a
Speaker 1: little bit more mobile this year, but last year he
Speaker 1: wasn't great defending out on the perimeter. But where he's
Speaker 1: always been a good defenders as a post up defender,
Speaker 1: he's just really good at at holding his ground and
Speaker 1: defending without fouling and making dudes settled for fadeaways over
Speaker 1: the top of him, and so it all just kind
Speaker 1: of worked. But you know, this season, it's hard to say, uh,
Speaker 1: with with how deep they are at the guard position,
Speaker 1: that they won't like go with a more traditional a
Speaker 1: D at the five type of lineup where instead of
Speaker 1: Mark Keith kind of playing default five, they'll just up
Speaker 1: like a third guard on the floor or something along
Speaker 1: those life. That's just what I personally expect. I only
Speaker 1: said Morris at the at the five because I know
Speaker 1: a D doesn't like banging down there with the big guys,
Speaker 1: so he's so much better as a help defender. You know,
Speaker 1: he could do that more playing the four, So I
Speaker 1: just figured you'd put him there and just put a
Speaker 1: shooter at the five, you know, And he will. I mean,
Speaker 1: he played sixty of his minutes at the five in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. He'll he'll do it when it matters, And
Speaker 1: that's I think you talked about it, like you just
Speaker 1: give Lebron a D and a bunch of spacing, um,
Speaker 1: a bunch of shooters, and that's pretty much a recipe
Speaker 1: percess success. That's why the five might have works so
Speaker 1: well is because he's not just uh, not only can
Speaker 1: he shoot, but even on the defensive end, he's able
Speaker 1: to help recover and he's one of the best rim
Speaker 1: protectors in the league. And you can do all that
Speaker 1: from the five, in my opinion, even easier than when
Speaker 1: he's at the four, when he has another five five
Speaker 1: behind them. One thing before before you guys go, because
Speaker 1: I know other people would like to talk to you, guys,
Speaker 1: but also to like, no other team like it really
Speaker 1: has that, like the the luxury of having two bigs
Speaker 1: because you know, I mean, Bron is kind of he's big.
Speaker 1: He's a freight train, right, so I just you know,
Speaker 1: Brooklyn out in the East, they don't have that, and
Speaker 1: nobody out west has the luxury of doing something like that,
Speaker 1: like even the Clippers, you know, like they don't have
Speaker 1: anything like that. You can't just do that with those guys.
Speaker 1: So I just think the Lakers have a better advantage
Speaker 1: when help you. Yeah, I mean the the We talked
Speaker 1: a little bit about this earlier in the in the Pond,
Speaker 1: we were talking about pick and roll coverages. But the
Speaker 1: crazy thing with Lebron and a D is a four
Speaker 1: or five combo is they can switch any pick and
Speaker 1: roll that involves them as a big man. So it
Speaker 1: takes the primary action that the vast majority of teams
Speaker 1: around the league run to get their best looks and
Speaker 1: just effectively makes it obsolete because it's like call up
Speaker 1: your center and you're gonna get a D involved into play, Like,
Speaker 1: good luck with that, or you're gonna get Lebron James
Speaker 1: involved in the play. And then and then they can
Speaker 1: also put Lebron in a D on your two best players,
Speaker 1: which makes them ineffectual as their own screen partners. And
Speaker 1: so I tend to think that, uh, that that is
Speaker 1: their biggest ace in the whole is more so than
Speaker 1: Lebron and Ada offensively, is just what they can do
Speaker 1: defensively as appearing on the floor, especially when you put
Speaker 1: them with guards like Caruso and KCP, who are always
Speaker 1: in the right spot at the right time and putting
Speaker 1: those extra effort plays, and especially with the player that
Speaker 1: Kuzma has become. I mean, make no mistake about it,
Speaker 1: it's hard to it's hard to visualize with how crazy
Speaker 1: and chaotic this season has been, but when healthy, this
Speaker 1: Laker team is considerably better than last year. They the
Speaker 1: moves on the margins are better, Caruso significantly better, KCP
Speaker 1: is more or less the same, Kuzma is like twice
Speaker 1: as good as was last year. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons why this team should, when healthy, be better
Speaker 1: than last year. We just haven't really gotten to see
Speaker 1: what that looks like as a result of health. And
Speaker 1: um that's why you should feel optimistic about this group,
Speaker 1: if they can regain their form in time to uh
Speaker 1: face up with the real, real competitive teams with them
Speaker 1: at that top tier of the league, like the Clippers,
Speaker 1: like the Nets and so on and so forth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess the only last thing you said the Clippers
Speaker 1: don't have anyone to match up with that. I don't
Speaker 1: think anyone in the league really does. I think the
Speaker 1: Lakers that's their ace that they can go against against
Speaker 1: anyone right that Lebron a D four or five matchup.
Speaker 1: Maybe Johannest have the five with the Bucks. Other than that,
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure any other combo that can really
Speaker 1: go with that. So yeah, that's there. That's what they're
Speaker 1: betting on. The health the role players hopefully. Look, we
Speaker 1: talked an offseason. This is one of the most talented
Speaker 1: Laker teams that we've seen, right, just from a pure,
Speaker 1: pure like talent level. Now it's like all theoretical, we
Speaker 1: haven't really got to see it. But that's what they're
Speaker 1: betting on. Health and that those two just being able
Speaker 1: to power them through the playoffs. I appreciate you, man.
Speaker 1: Thanks all right, let's see we get merge up here.
Speaker 1: My friend marriage was going on again if if you
Speaker 1: just got down. Apologies for my voice. I loved my
Speaker 1: voice on Saturday night, and I'm not sure where I went,
Speaker 1: but I hope you will find him for the next places.
Speaker 1: Apologize emerge. What's going on? Man? Wha you ar hearing me? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I can hear you, he man? What's going on? Two things?
Speaker 1: One point one thing sort of a comment about the
Speaker 1: playing the sun. So I think this game kind of
Speaker 1: solidified for me that I think we can kind of
Speaker 1: use that first front series against the Suns as not
Speaker 1: having to have Lebron go full Lebron like we were
Speaker 1: kind of worried about having having him having to go
Speaker 1: too fast, too quick come off of that injury. I
Speaker 1: think you can kind of lean on Ad a little
Speaker 1: bit as a as the you know, the top option
Speaker 1: there and the flat sort of dominating in that five
Speaker 1: six games four or five six game series against the Suns.
Speaker 1: The governor a week, we can have two weeks of
Speaker 1: resting and then playing the Clippers or whoever we would
Speaker 1: playing this around. Uh, the bank can really come out.
Speaker 1: I don't know what do you think about something like that?
Speaker 1: Agree with you? Like the you're you're right in the
Speaker 1: sense that Lebron doesn't have to be Lebron Lebron until
Speaker 1: he's toe to toe with Kauai, in total toe with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. That part I agree with you, But everything
Speaker 1: else has to be right because teams like a team
Speaker 1: like Phoenix can beat the Lakers if Lebron is and
Speaker 1: a D is not quite himself and the defense isn't sharp,
Speaker 1: and so what he's exciting is a D looks like
Speaker 1: he's getting close to and the defense looks great because
Speaker 1: now I can confidently say that Lebron easing his way
Speaker 1: back from an injury is enough to win that matchup.
Speaker 1: But make no mistake, Lebron is gonna have to look
Speaker 1: you know, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant in the face
Speaker 1: later on this postseason, and he's gonna have to go
Speaker 1: head to head with those guys, and so he does
Speaker 1: eventually need to get back to uh pretty close to
Speaker 1: the to the real deal. Um, but I'm with you
Speaker 1: that that he doesn't have to right away if he
Speaker 1: catches a team like the Suns in the first round. Yeah,
Speaker 1: MARRIAGE agree with you. That's why I like that first
Speaker 1: round is so important for me. It's just to get them,
Speaker 1: get those sea legs under him, get that, get his
Speaker 1: conditioning up. A lot of I think the Laker Twitter
Speaker 1: doctors as well. Um, they said, like he's probably not
Speaker 1: gonna be right until the second round anyway, just with
Speaker 1: how those injuries work. So yeah, you can just get
Speaker 1: to look the Suns like, I know we dominate in
Speaker 1: them tonight, but like you don't win that many games
Speaker 1: without being really good like that, They're a really good team.
Speaker 1: I think Lebron is still gonna have to be maybe
Speaker 1: not a percent but like at his ninety to beat
Speaker 1: the Suns. In my opinion, UM, a D can really
Speaker 1: work inside. This is a great series for a D.
Speaker 1: I don't think DeAndre and can guard him. Ar Sorridge,
Speaker 1: Craig all those guys are not a matchup for a D.
Speaker 1: It's just I still think we need Lebron shot creation
Speaker 1: though um we saw tonight. I think Caruso did a
Speaker 1: nice job tonight. I just don't think in a seven
Speaker 1: game series that's that's enough to create enough points, um
Speaker 1: to kind of generate enough points to beat this Phoenix
Speaker 1: team without Lebron shock creation. But I don't think he
Speaker 1: has to be that full forty fifteen fifteen and night
Speaker 1: that look like you need in the in the finals, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the main thing it's not that lebraunch just like Layoff.
Speaker 1: But like you were saying, he doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: the guy who doesn't have to go up against Kawhi
Speaker 1: Lard and Kevin Durrett, I'm more worried about him, like
Speaker 1: you know, having to go from very clear really fast
Speaker 1: and like metaphorically tweaking something if you kind of able
Speaker 1: to ramp it in that first round in that second round,
Speaker 1: that's kind of right. It's an ideal matchup to have
Speaker 1: a D got a team like the Sons, who, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they are a great team and they've been really good
Speaker 1: this year, but I think a d is this kind
Speaker 1: of the ultimate matchup nightmare for them, especially because they
Speaker 1: don't really have that guy who can match up with
Speaker 1: a d um And the second thing I wanted to
Speaker 1: say is what do you guys think the playoff rotation?
Speaker 1: How many how many people do you think you have
Speaker 1: to cut down to? And ultimately, who do you think
Speaker 1: are the ones who are locked in who are definitely
Speaker 1: playing every single series as opposed to the one too.
Speaker 1: It might be on and off as the matchups going.
Speaker 1: We've talked about this a few times over the over
Speaker 1: the last few weeks. I think that it's going to
Speaker 1: be matchup dependent. I think you might see certain players
Speaker 1: go dormant against one team and then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden be leaned on heavily against another team. A great
Speaker 1: example of that is going to be like if you
Speaker 1: play Yokich in one round and you play you know,
Speaker 1: Zoobots in another round, it's going to be a different
Speaker 1: type of center rotation. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like I think, I think it's gonna come down to
Speaker 1: figuring out how many of the guards play. I tend
Speaker 1: to think guys like th h T and Markis are
Speaker 1: going to fall out of the rotation and you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a lot more of Wesley Matthews, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a lot more of Uh. I think. I think
Speaker 1: Montres is another guy who might fall to the to
Speaker 1: the edge of the rotation in the postseason. But honestly,
Speaker 1: man I I I don't know how you even could
Speaker 1: feel confident about what that's gonna look like with how
Speaker 1: all over the place Frank has been this year, which
Speaker 1: has not been his fault for the record, it's been
Speaker 1: because of the injuries, But I mean this, this rotation
Speaker 1: has been all over the place this year. I feel
Speaker 1: like all the bigs are matchup dependent. For me, maybe
Speaker 1: the solid plays more, but like it's gonna be Lebron
Speaker 1: at the five, and then we'll see wherever they can
Speaker 1: play drum, and see where they can play Tress, see
Speaker 1: where they can play Mark Kiev. I think those wings
Speaker 1: and then Ben malcolmore will see if he's hot that night, right,
Speaker 1: But other than that, it's gonna be Crusoe, k CP, Kuzma,
Speaker 1: lebron A D And then from there you can kind
Speaker 1: of pick out who's gonna play. After that. It might
Speaker 1: be like West Matthews as well, might be more of
Speaker 1: a picture. He's playing really well, so if he continues this,
Speaker 1: he might be a fixture in that rotation. But after that,
Speaker 1: to me, Vogel is just gonna be able to push
Speaker 1: whatever buttons he wants, kind of just like he did
Speaker 1: last year. So that's why I keep comparing Drummond to
Speaker 1: to Javail, not like or not to Javail, like not
Speaker 1: to Dwight um So just just like situationally, how he's
Speaker 1: gonna play, where he's gonna be put in, And that's
Speaker 1: how I see it. So mostly that's how I hope
Speaker 1: it's gonna be like an eight man nine month rotation,
Speaker 1: because I don't I just don't think you can have
Speaker 1: twelve or thirteen men playing every night, and it's just
Speaker 1: actually not how the playoffs goes. No one will be
Speaker 1: in Ridham in that way. So that's how I open
Speaker 1: see that how it goes, all right, I think that
Speaker 1: is that they're driving me on. Guys, alright, we god,
Speaker 1: we are Maple Maples up here, Mr Maple's what's up? Man?
Speaker 1: Oh job? What's going on? Man? I was just curious
Speaker 1: what you guys talk. I was talking to some people
Speaker 1: like this about this. What do you think? Who's do
Speaker 1: you think is gonna be the toughest matchup for the
Speaker 1: Lakers in the playoffs all the way to a championship?
Speaker 1: Who's the toughest match up? Like, I'm not saying you
Speaker 1: don't want to see him, because you gotta play everybody eventually.
Speaker 1: Who do you think gives the Lakers bost trouble in
Speaker 1: European of the Western Conference. I've been pretty consistent about this.
Speaker 1: I have the Clippers, man, I think I think they're
Speaker 1: just built in the sense that, uh, they can go
Speaker 1: to lineups that will force the Lakers to be isolation
Speaker 1: heavy by going with all their wings and force Lebron
Speaker 1: and a D to take a lot of off the
Speaker 1: drivel jump shots, especially if the spacing isn't there. I
Speaker 1: would still pick the Lakers in that matchup. I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought what New York I thought. I thought what
Speaker 1: the Knicks did to the Clippers, today with their defense
Speaker 1: is a great example of the way that the Lakers
Speaker 1: can stagnate them in return and make a guy like
Speaker 1: Kauai really struggle to find quality looks and wear them
Speaker 1: down over a series. I would pick the Lakers, but
Speaker 1: if there's a team that has that has uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the theoretical pieces they need to cause the Lakers problem,
Speaker 1: it would be the Clippers in my opinion. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: with that as well. I feel like the Clippers have
Speaker 1: people aren't really watching the Clippers. It might be and
Speaker 1: I feel like because obviously what happened last year, but
Speaker 1: man like they're just as good. They're crazy three point
Speaker 1: shooting team right there, like super early they create high
Speaker 1: about three point shots. I don't know if that will
Speaker 1: go in in the playoffs, but with that and the
Speaker 1: star level play of Kauai and we'll see what Paul
Speaker 1: George does. I just think they're ceiling is uh is
Speaker 1: the highest of what they can do, and they give
Speaker 1: the Lakers trouble. Right though those Wings play well. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a coincidence those Wings play well against
Speaker 1: It's almost every time. Um So yeah, I definitely against
Speaker 1: the Clippers and just have the high variants with the shooting.
Speaker 1: I think Zobach starting changes things a lot for them,
Speaker 1: Like he's really good as a defensive being man center.
Speaker 1: They can they can put out there. So definitely I
Speaker 1: saw their defense shot at the top ten with six
Speaker 1: stepid starting. There was a good team. So that's just
Speaker 1: curious about what you guys thought. I kind of lead
Speaker 1: leading that way too. It was gonna be thinper for
Speaker 1: me and Tony lost Bury that I'm with the Clippers
Speaker 1: and just one more of the Eastern Conference teams in
Speaker 1: the finals, you know, saying the Lakers get there knocking
Speaker 1: on some wood. Um, who's the who do you think
Speaker 1: the toughest matchup coming out of there? I think that
Speaker 1: might be a little I have to go back and
Speaker 1: forth with that. Well, I want to hear your opinion
Speaker 1: first man, what do you think? Uh? For me, it
Speaker 1: was the Honestly, it was the Sixers. For me, I
Speaker 1: think that would be the kind of toughest match up
Speaker 1: because just because it will force the Laker to play,
Speaker 1: you know, drubbing and play big a little more and
Speaker 1: that kind of hurts the Lakers offensively. And that was
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, my train of thought there. I
Speaker 1: think I think you put a d at the five.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not saying that you handled the nets
Speaker 1: pretty well, but I think that kind of mutualizes the
Speaker 1: next one to do offensively. I tend to think that
Speaker 1: the Lakers would eventually figure out a way to really
Speaker 1: slow down the Sixers offense. Uh. What worries me about Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and this is what makes the James Harden things so crazy,
Speaker 1: is like the Laker defense is so good that you
Speaker 1: have to beat them by shooting over the top. When
Speaker 1: they've got it going, you know, you have to beat
Speaker 1: them by shooting over their smaller guards. And you know,
Speaker 1: when it's just Katie and Kyrie, or when it's just Kyrier,
Speaker 1: it's just whoever it is, you can fati eigue them
Speaker 1: and force them to miss. But that three headed attack there,
Speaker 1: it's to me, it kind of balances out the physical
Speaker 1: wear and tear of generating offense against the Lakers to
Speaker 1: where you know, you could see all three of them having,
Speaker 1: you know, moments in the game where they can be aggressive,
Speaker 1: but where they can also fade into the background and
Speaker 1: not have to worry about being the guy who's generating everything.
Speaker 1: And in theory, if they can continue to cause teams
Speaker 1: problems with their switching defense. I I still think that
Speaker 1: Brooklyn is the scariest and I don't think that that
Speaker 1: massive wind Street that they went on with James Harden
Speaker 1: was a coincidence. I thought that was they found a formula.
Speaker 1: They were switching on defense and it was screwing people
Speaker 1: up and then no one can guard them on the
Speaker 1: other end. See, that was my thing. Just I just
Speaker 1: I just saw what Janice did to them, like back
Speaker 1: to back game. I just think I think like the
Speaker 1: playoff rings are a d is kind of you know,
Speaker 1: he obviously can't initiate like Johannest, but as far as
Speaker 1: being able to score on smaller guys against switches have
Speaker 1: to like the talent is similar. So that's quite a time.
Speaker 1: Did you think you're adding Lebron jangs to it on
Speaker 1: top of it? So that's why I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know if it's the it's Brooklyn's the
Speaker 1: toughest matchup for the Lakers, But I just chanse what
Speaker 1: you guys thought. Yeah, yeah, I think I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be close, like it was Brooklyn for me all
Speaker 1: year and then like I guess the Bucks are starting
Speaker 1: to kind of creep creep in there, but talking about
Speaker 1: Jason was talking about, Sorry, there's two Jason. Now j
Speaker 1: was talking JT was talking about with like with Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: how to defend them Katie. Katie and Kyrie are the
Speaker 1: only really two right in the East that have proven
Speaker 1: are going to hit like those tough shots when it
Speaker 1: matters like those are the two have like kind of
Speaker 1: proven it. That's why I would still kind of pick them.
Speaker 1: Um in a playoff series where I guess the Lakers
Speaker 1: are gonna have to hit those tough, midrange kind of
Speaker 1: contested shots, and their guys that look for that shot
Speaker 1: like they try to purposely get to that. So that's
Speaker 1: where my struggle would be and then hardened just man,
Speaker 1: that makes that so tough to cover because you can't
Speaker 1: really trap anywhere. Um, Blakers would kind of figure it out,
Speaker 1: see who they want to leave open, maybe leave Bruce
Speaker 1: Brown or something open. But yeah, that's where it's really tough.
Speaker 1: But Milwaukee starting to go up man with Janice is
Speaker 1: doing Drew Holiday, I think it's huge. Um. I think
Speaker 1: he was like a huge X factor for them in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. He's a playoff performer too, so it's close
Speaker 1: for me, as closer than it was. Do you see
Speaker 1: that as well? Maple's like Milwaukee for you have they
Speaker 1: kind of like Yeah, I mean I watched I watched
Speaker 1: un pell game and the drop off between Bledstoe and
Speaker 1: Holiday the gap. I'm definitely figured they're at the gap
Speaker 1: that that's definitely something to considered. I think there was
Speaker 1: gonna be much better in the playoff setting, and uh,
Speaker 1: I think Janice is different. Obviously people are going to
Speaker 1: push back. We'll see in the playoffs. But I'm definitely
Speaker 1: you know, Milwaukee definitely have my eyes and they're actually
Speaker 1: playing the best right now by the Bees. So do
Speaker 1: you did you watch that second Bucks Nets game, the
Speaker 1: one where Kyrie was complaining about their crunch time offense.
Speaker 1: I saw I saw towards the end of the year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So that I thought was the interesting kind of microcosm
Speaker 1: of of what I think is the way to beat
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Um And it's it's kind of like what happened
Speaker 1: to the Clippers last year against Denver, Like they just
Speaker 1: forced them into taking a ton of contested jump shots
Speaker 1: and the Clippers just went cold. And you saw the
Speaker 1: Bucks did the same thing to Brooklyn in that game,
Speaker 1: it just it became very your turn, my turn, and
Speaker 1: the and the superstar crazy pull up shots just they
Speaker 1: just weren't going. And I think I think that's the
Speaker 1: strategy to beat Brooklyn is physically wear them down and
Speaker 1: then stagnate them and then just hope that at the
Speaker 1: end of those games they just have those like contagious
Speaker 1: cold nights where they just can't make anything, and then
Speaker 1: and then you're on the other end, you're getting these
Speaker 1: like that. That's the cool thing about the honest, you
Speaker 1: know impact, And what Lebron and a D will do
Speaker 1: is like their stagnation is at the rim, like they're
Speaker 1: they're they're like, hey, we're forced fitting feeding Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D in isolation. But Lebron's putting his head down
Speaker 1: and going to the rim and a D is you know,
Speaker 1: back in the dude down and shooting like a seven
Speaker 1: foot or over the top of him. Like it's it's
Speaker 1: just a different type of stagnant offense when it's him.
Speaker 1: Then when it's all pull up jumpers, you know, get
Speaker 1: the shot quality, I got you. Yep. We saw what
Speaker 1: happens to James Harden, right, he just stands at half
Speaker 1: court sometimes. Now I don't know if you'll do that.
Speaker 1: Now he's got a lot more talent around them, and
Speaker 1: you know, like we'll see how that goes. But I
Speaker 1: think that's like a kind of I think that's the template.
Speaker 1: You kind of trap Harden and then make the other
Speaker 1: guys try to take tough shots. But I just what
Speaker 1: did you guys get to, you know, you guys to
Speaker 1: kind of kind of idea of who the matchups were
Speaker 1: leaving the lads. So appreciate your man, love what y'are doing, Dope, Maples,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you man as always, shim Let's see, we
Speaker 1: got James Harden is better than Kobe and Dwyane Wain,
Speaker 1: so they should be just fun from what I've been
Speaker 1: called off. Oh my god, bro, are you there? Hey,
Speaker 1: let's okay, hear me. The thing about the nets that
Speaker 1: you guys were talking about those like regardless of how
Speaker 1: it looks, we've only seen them for seven games together, right,
Speaker 1: So like how like obviously it happened with the Clippers
Speaker 1: last year, but it didn't have enough chemistry, So how
Speaker 1: do we think that plays out this year? Because like,
Speaker 1: these guys are just the talent is just on a
Speaker 1: different level. You know, So I agree with you in
Speaker 1: the sense that that the talent is on a different
Speaker 1: level that makes it different. That these guys are much smarter,
Speaker 1: smarter offensive players than Kawai and Paul George are. Um
Speaker 1: the thing the thing that makes it tricky, and Kevin
Speaker 1: Duran actually talked about this in his podcast. I think
Speaker 1: Bankski just straight up asked him like, hey, man, like
Speaker 1: what do you say to the people who say you
Speaker 1: guys haven't played enough together? And He's like, we're we're
Speaker 1: high i Q basketball players. This is easy for us.
Speaker 1: Put us in floor. We know what to do, we
Speaker 1: know how to play basketball. You know. I've always said
Speaker 1: that the lack of continuity is gonna hurt them more
Speaker 1: on the defensive and because you know, right now you're
Speaker 1: getting you know whatever, seventy seventy two minutes of of
Speaker 1: of Katie and Kyrie and then the rest is being
Speaker 1: played by these role players who are are embracing the
Speaker 1: dirty work, and they're actually doing a pretty decent job
Speaker 1: defensively with those guys given their lack of talent. When
Speaker 1: you throw James Harden in the mix and now all
Speaker 1: three of them are playing, you know, thirty forty minutes. Uh,
Speaker 1: that that three, that group of those three guys hasn't
Speaker 1: really learned how to get stops together yet. And and
Speaker 1: that even in those even in those games where they
Speaker 1: were having those really close games. I think with the Clippers,
Speaker 1: I think early on when those three were playing, it
Speaker 1: was like they were winning, but they were only winning
Speaker 1: by outscoring them because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like teams are having trouble stopping them too. But that's
Speaker 1: also seven game sample size, so you know m exactly.
Speaker 1: I do tend to think that they will be able
Speaker 1: to score no matter what. It's just can they defend?
Speaker 1: And a key part of their lineup has been out
Speaker 1: and he's a historically bad defensive player. And if you
Speaker 1: throw him into that mix and take away you know,
Speaker 1: a guy like that, whatever his name is, Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: or whatever it has been, you know, crazy like defending
Speaker 1: like a crazy person. I think it swings, you know,
Speaker 1: that side of the floor, you know, in a negative manner,
Speaker 1: and there is a bit of a diminishing return on
Speaker 1: the offensive end, and I think it lowers their ceiling
Speaker 1: a little bit. Yeah, it's them, and then the Clippers,
Speaker 1: I'm I have a little bit worry about the Clippers
Speaker 1: only because for some reason, when they see the purple
Speaker 1: and goal, those guys all are just insane. That lack
Speaker 1: of focus or them giving up big leads like did
Speaker 1: it against the Nuggets. I don't see that happening against
Speaker 1: the Lakers, Like if the Lakers beat them, they're going
Speaker 1: to have to beat them. For some reason, when they
Speaker 1: see the Lakers, they're just they don't they're on their
Speaker 1: peace and queues. They don't miss anything. They're just straight up.
Speaker 1: And but yeah, it's just them and the nets that
Speaker 1: I'm worried about. For the nets. My other thing is
Speaker 1: if they are on, it's like for teams to go
Speaker 1: shot for shot with them, Like that's insane. Like we
Speaker 1: we make fun of James for all of his playoff
Speaker 1: failures this and that, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like Harden never played with the guy of Katie's caliber ever,
Speaker 1: and now he's about to be passing the ball and
Speaker 1: running the offense with Katie and Kyrie, who are both
Speaker 1: historically really clutched players. And so I mean, if if
Speaker 1: we see a finals matchup, it should be insane. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The funny part about that he said he's never played
Speaker 1: with a guy of Katie's caliber. Yeah it was Katie right,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah it was. But your point is definitely right though.
Speaker 1: With that, he has way more talent around him. And
Speaker 1: I think, look, like I said this about the Lakers
Speaker 1: this year, they've obviously um gone into going into the
Speaker 1: playoffs focusing on health, right, that's what they want to do,
Speaker 1: And Nets are doing the same thing right there, trying
Speaker 1: to focus on health. I do think there's like this respect,
Speaker 1: you have to have a continuity in this respect, you
Speaker 1: have to have the chemistry of what it takes to
Speaker 1: win a title like I just don't think, um, well,
Speaker 1: the Nets aren't gonna have enough time with the with
Speaker 1: the game's missed. I think Katie, Kyrie and Harden only
Speaker 1: played like games together as well, So that's where that's
Speaker 1: where their struggle is going to be. Have they gone
Speaker 1: and gone through enough ups and downs to wear in
Speaker 1: the playoffs that we be able to trust each other
Speaker 1: on defense and be able to go do what you
Speaker 1: need to do in a playoff series, And that's I
Speaker 1: think that's the good thing. I just think the talent
Speaker 1: is overwhelming in the Eastern Conference and you can't go
Speaker 1: shot with shot for shot with them. That's a eating
Speaker 1: that's a losing strategy. Like you can't go, you can't
Speaker 1: play game with them because they'll win. That that's what
Speaker 1: they wanted, that's what they want you to do. They
Speaker 1: want you to get into like a one on one battle.
Speaker 1: They'll switch a lot. They're very like very much like
Speaker 1: how Houston did last year where they try to switch everything,
Speaker 1: make you go into an isolation battle. So so yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you're right with that. They'll definitely have some issues.
Speaker 1: I just think the talent level is just just too
Speaker 1: high for them. Well to your point about the to
Speaker 1: your point about the shopper shot thing, that's the point
Speaker 1: of the Lebron in a d or the Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: Joel Embiide or the Janice Drew Holiday type of a pairing.
Speaker 1: That makes it different is you know, if you go
Speaker 1: I would be. I am one thousand percent certain that
Speaker 1: if the Clippers got into a playoff series with the Nets,
Speaker 1: they would lose because they get into those environments and
Speaker 1: they get into jump shooting contests with them. But for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, for the Sixers, teams that like you know,
Speaker 1: when when they're on the other end taking contested pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots. You're ramming it down their throat at
Speaker 1: the rim to me, to me, that is the way
Speaker 1: you counter their shot. Like you can you can get
Speaker 1: into an isolation contest with him if you bully them
Speaker 1: while they're trying to outfinance you. That to me is
Speaker 1: the way to beat them. Yeah, all right, well, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys, thanks for having me on than you see,
Speaker 1: we got two more here so we can get to
Speaker 1: those cool cam gamba. What's going on? Man, looks like
Speaker 1: it's a connecting. Let see if I can you guy
Speaker 1: see me? Yeah, that's what I was. Oh, not much.
Speaker 1: I guess one thing I've noticed tonight especially, and I
Speaker 1: guess the first half the Clippers game. Matt West. Matthews.
Speaker 1: He has came out on defense and he has been
Speaker 1: awesome earlier. I know, earlier in the season battle and
Speaker 1: leg injuries and stuff, but uh, specifically the lineups with him,
Speaker 1: Crusoe and KCP. I thought the perimeter defense was awesome tonight,
Speaker 1: and I think, especially if we play the Clippers, I
Speaker 1: think he's going to be important. I realized he's a
Speaker 1: little under size for Kauai and PG. By it, I
Speaker 1: think I don't know him and Kuzma are probably gonna
Speaker 1: be switching on and off. But yeah, yeah, I tend
Speaker 1: to think that every older veteran player from the bubble
Speaker 1: deserves a pass for the way they looked in the
Speaker 1: first few months of the season. Um. I think I
Speaker 1: think all of them got out of Disney and they
Speaker 1: were like not touching the basketball for the next several months.
Speaker 1: I think that was their way of of of rejuvenating
Speaker 1: from that crazy experience. And I think a lot of
Speaker 1: those guys that West isn't the only guy like that
Speaker 1: in the league right now who's a little bit older,
Speaker 1: has had some injuries in his life, who came back
Speaker 1: and looked a little sloppy. His mobility right now compared
Speaker 1: to the way it looks back in December is insane.
Speaker 1: He's he looks like a different player. Um. And and
Speaker 1: I'm with you, like, he's your he's your guy that
Speaker 1: you play when you're dealing with bigger wing scores. He's
Speaker 1: not as as quick as he used to be, but
Speaker 1: he's still really, really strong, and he's still later really
Speaker 1: quick enough to hang with the bigger wings in the
Speaker 1: league that aren't going to be as shifty and quick
Speaker 1: as you might have to deal with with, you know,
Speaker 1: with the quicker type of guards. And it looks like
Speaker 1: with the way that the matchups are shaking out, that
Speaker 1: the Lakers are far more likely to run into wings
Speaker 1: than they are too guards at this point, with the
Speaker 1: exception of the playing game against Steth, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: the one random wrinkle in there. Yeah, I said before,
Speaker 1: like West rounding into form is pretty big. Like the
Speaker 1: whole league wants three and D wings, right, that's what
Speaker 1: they want. Mcel bridges is about to get paid this summer.
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the best three and D wings.
Speaker 1: But yeah, West ending in the forum, he's a he's
Speaker 1: a grown experience dude. Like he's been in the league
Speaker 1: a long time. He knows what it like takes, I
Speaker 1: guess to get his body ready for a full season
Speaker 1: going to the playoffs. And his jumper going is huge,
Speaker 1: Like he looks like he's moving well. I remember in
Speaker 1: the beginning of the season, like he got really cooked
Speaker 1: by Kauai. I think in Paul George and I like
Speaker 1: first Clippers game, UM today and the last few games
Speaker 1: he's look really good against wings UM and he's playing well,
Speaker 1: So I think he's gonna be a picture of the uh,
Speaker 1: the rotation him and cous You can't can't have enough
Speaker 1: of those wings, and that's that's what the whole league wants. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not really everyone's freaking out over like rotations and stuff,
Speaker 1: but I mean, Lakers have so many bodies and so
Speaker 1: many different uh, they're shape shifting team. They can literally
Speaker 1: got matchups for any team. I do think the Clippers
Speaker 1: it's going to be if we play them, it's going
Speaker 1: to be a blood bath. I don't know. Just every
Speaker 1: time we play them it's just I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: just slow it down type of game. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It should be good. But yeah, the cold and I'm
Speaker 1: stealing that shape shifting team. I like that. That's going
Speaker 1: into my repertoire. I'll be using it from here forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah all right, thanks, appreciate it. Thanks man. All right,
Speaker 1: and yeah, let's see if we can get gambo on
Speaker 1: there and we'll just close it off for that for
Speaker 1: the night. It looks like he's still connecting. Um I
Speaker 1: decided reacent quotes here. Frank Vogli as Cruso has to
Speaker 1: be considered for an all defensive team. That's from red
Speaker 1: Rivas Christian Vas. I think we would agree right like
Speaker 1: he would if he got the minutes. I just don't
Speaker 1: think all defensive players come off the bench for the
Speaker 1: most part, But I think you would be considered if
Speaker 1: he were starting. Do you think do you think that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's impossible for him to get the award, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: just with the way that this whole process works. But
Speaker 1: here's all I'll say about ox Cruso. He is one
Speaker 1: of the few guys in the league that I think
Speaker 1: fits the description of a defensive wrecking ball that dude
Speaker 1: just blows up plays all the time. He's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite players to root for, just because I've never
Speaker 1: really seen a guy, um, you know, at that type
Speaker 1: of position who he I guess I shouldn't say never
Speaker 1: see that guy, because there are several of them like
Speaker 1: that in the league, But for me personally and in
Speaker 1: the teams that I've rooted for since I've been an
Speaker 1: NBA fan, he's the first guy that I've had like
Speaker 1: that who's literally just a wrecking ball defensive that played
Speaker 1: today where he was kind of playing in between Chris
Speaker 1: Paul and DeAndre Ayton and then back pedaled and just
Speaker 1: jumped and broke up the lob to DeAndre A And
Speaker 1: that's just a ridiculous defensive play, Just a ridiculous defensive play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was really Let me see if I can get
Speaker 1: this last call around here, O case seven. I's you're
Speaker 1: just not connecting connecting anymore. But we can try. We
Speaker 1: can try again on Tuesday for the gentleman. Yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: well this was good. Um, this is a big win.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I feel like we got a D pet,
Speaker 1: we got a D playing like himself. Um, I think
Speaker 1: we got the Knicks Tuesday, who beat the Clippers tonight. Actually,
Speaker 1: um in l A. It's a big one for them. Yeah. Hey,
Speaker 1: thank you guys all so much for listening. Sincerely, we
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Um if you missed out on anything that
Speaker 1: you want to hear again. I have been fortunate to
Speaker 1: be able to figure out how to record these using
Speaker 1: just screen recording on an iPhone and I'll release it
Speaker 1: as a podcast here in a few minutes so you
Speaker 1: can check out the thing in its entirety. And to
Speaker 1: my knowledge, Roger and I plan on doing this again
Speaker 1: after the next game on Tuesday. And you know, we
Speaker 1: just really appreciate you guys. To support. This is a
Speaker 1: lot of fun and I'm glad we finally have some
Speaker 1: good news to talk about. Yep, and hopefully I'll find
Speaker 1: my voice by man. I appreciate everyone who stayed in,
Speaker 1: came and requested everything to come up. These are really
Speaker 1: cool and