Speaker 1: Mmmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers postgame show
Speaker 1: on DASH Radio. Rog and I are pleased to finally
Speaker 1: announce that the that the Lakers looked like the Lakers,
Speaker 1: the Lakers that we had hoped they would be for
Speaker 1: the first time this season. Um and you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm sure some people who haven't been paying attention will
Speaker 1: try to undercut to some extent, but was a really
Speaker 1: impressive win against a really good team that has shown
Speaker 1: some flashes of defense in the last week that we
Speaker 1: really haven't seen much in recent NBA history, taking high
Speaker 1: powered offenses and holding them to the eighties and nineties. Um,
Speaker 1: like Denver, like Atlanta, like the Clippers. Just a really
Speaker 1: good basketball team that is that is smartly put together.
Speaker 1: And the Lakers, who have not been a good basketball
Speaker 1: team this year, finally put some stuff together that we
Speaker 1: knew they needed to put together in order to compete
Speaker 1: and and got the job done. Roge, what what what
Speaker 1: is your overarching you know, thirty thousand feet type of
Speaker 1: opinion from this game to start with? So I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'm at thirty feet yet, Like I'm still
Speaker 1: you know, the plane is kind of going up as
Speaker 1: I just kind of the plane just went up. But
Speaker 1: it was nice to have Lebron back. I guess, like
Speaker 1: that was I guess my first kind of take away.
Speaker 1: The last few games we were kind of analyzing the
Speaker 1: team without him, and like I said, you have to
Speaker 1: find kind of lineups that are effective without Lebron playing.
Speaker 1: But it was just good to have him back. And
Speaker 1: he definitely kind of sleep walked through a lot of
Speaker 1: this game. Um, he didn't really try on defense until
Speaker 1: the fourth, but that fourth quarter was really calming for me.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, Jason, but like just to
Speaker 1: see that they have this gear to go to, like
Speaker 1: it was pretty clear. It was kind of just like,
Speaker 1: let's walk through this. And in the fourth quarter it
Speaker 1: was O time and they really just went Lebron a
Speaker 1: D screen and roll. They knew they ran this a
Speaker 1: billion times quickly. Ron came off, hit to a D.
Speaker 1: He score. Lebron comes off, he gets to the rim.
Speaker 1: It was nice to see that that pet play is
Speaker 1: still there and then be able to turn on the
Speaker 1: defense right go on these defensive runs as we talked
Speaker 1: about and we needed to see, and they did that tonight.
Speaker 1: Ten points I think for the calves for a lot
Speaker 1: of that for to close the half as well. I
Speaker 1: think they went on like a thirteen oh run or something,
Speaker 1: so you can see the remnants there of a good defense.
Speaker 1: But yeah, those are kind of my initial thoughts. How
Speaker 1: about you. So let's start with Lebron because I'm actually
Speaker 1: gonna be pretty critical with him tonight, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: save it for later because he was so good at
Speaker 1: the end of that game that that happen to be
Speaker 1: what we lead with. You know. One of the reasons
Speaker 1: why I've always valued Lebron, you know, compared to his peers,
Speaker 1: is because of the well rounded nature of his game.
Speaker 1: What he can do defensively when he's dialed in, what
Speaker 1: he can do as an isolation score, what he can
Speaker 1: do to attack mismatches, but most importantly, what he can
Speaker 1: do when a defense is geared up to stop it,
Speaker 1: because that's the most important thing. Like it's not about
Speaker 1: what you can do in your individual matchup, because nine
Speaker 1: times out of ten, when the ship hits the fan
Speaker 1: in the biggest playoff moments, they're throwing multiple bodies at you.
Speaker 1: They're throwing they're mixing coverages, they're sending doubles, they're trapping,
Speaker 1: they're they're they're helping off the weak side corner. They're
Speaker 1: doing all sorts of crazy stuff. And Lebron is, without
Speaker 1: a doubt, the very best player in the game right
Speaker 1: now at deciphering that type of defense. And that sequence
Speaker 1: at the end of the game was such an interesting
Speaker 1: basketball sequence because when you when you beat a team
Speaker 1: with one specific play, they're always going to shade and
Speaker 1: adjust in that direction to try to stop at the
Speaker 1: next time. And it was so interesting to watch him
Speaker 1: go through the progression of that a D pick and
Speaker 1: roll and they threw little wrinkles in like they would
Speaker 1: have bays Moore set a quick little pin screen down
Speaker 1: on a eas man so that a D would have
Speaker 1: just a tiny bit of separation as he was coming
Speaker 1: up to set the screen. But the cycle was pretty
Speaker 1: simply pick and roll DA D. They stayed home on Lebron.
Speaker 1: He just threw a pocket pass, a D lays it up.
Speaker 1: Very next possession, pick and roll d D. Lebron's going
Speaker 1: down the lank. This time the guy in the drop
Speaker 1: covers is a little bit closer to the rimp to
Speaker 1: try to watch out for a D and that pocket past.
Speaker 1: So Lebron just continues all the way and finishes, and
Speaker 1: then on the third one, this time they kind of
Speaker 1: sent help from the week side corners and Lebron swings
Speaker 1: it reverse across the court to Baysmore in the corner
Speaker 1: who's wide open. There's a rotating defender. He swings it
Speaker 1: to Bradley knocks down a wide open three. And then
Speaker 1: the following possession they just switched the pick and roll,
Speaker 1: because when you're having trouble, when you're having trouble with
Speaker 1: your traditional pick and roll coverage with guys dying on
Speaker 1: the screen, if you just switch it, it usually will
Speaker 1: force you to isolate. Well, Lebron's just isolated Jared Allen
Speaker 1: and took him right to the basket and made a three.
Speaker 1: And then on the final possession, they literally trapped Lebron
Speaker 1: on the pick and roll and A D slipped it,
Speaker 1: but Carmelo's man stepped into the lane to take away
Speaker 1: the dump pass, and Lebron just swung into Carmelo and
Speaker 1: made a three. And that progression, that ability to decipher
Speaker 1: each and every possible defensive counter to your pick and
Speaker 1: roll uh that you're running with Lebron and a D,
Speaker 1: that is what makes him a top tier superstar in
Speaker 1: addition to all the other things that he does. And
Speaker 1: that's what that's what makes us Laker fans so optimistic
Speaker 1: because that type of defense deciphering is exactly what you
Speaker 1: need to win playoff games. And again, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: critical of Lebron later on because I thought he was
Speaker 1: really bad defensively in this game, and I thought it
Speaker 1: trickled down in a lot of ways. But that little
Speaker 1: stretch he went and that game was back and forth
Speaker 1: and back and forth, and the Caps you get a
Speaker 1: little lead and then the Lakers would fight back, then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden it was over because of like
Speaker 1: a six or seven possession stretch where one of the
Speaker 1: best play it was in the world, just apart and
Speaker 1: having that in your back pocket as a weapon is
Speaker 1: such an asset for this team. Yeah, for sure. And
Speaker 1: I've like and I don't think it's a coincidence that
Speaker 1: happened when a d was at the five right as well.
Speaker 1: I believe Adio was at the five when they made
Speaker 1: their running. Yeah, and I was on the I was
Speaker 1: on the boat early that I thought DeAndre Jordan could
Speaker 1: play those first six you know, five minutes it will
Speaker 1: be fine, but I think I'm starting to turn over
Speaker 1: onto the other side. Like the offense is just too
Speaker 1: ugly when he's out there. And even when Dwight was
Speaker 1: out there, I thought tonight it was bad. Um he
Speaker 1: kind of gets he gets off the loose, a lot,
Speaker 1: off the hook a lot with DeAndre Jordan and not
Speaker 1: playing the way he does. But yeah, like I feel
Speaker 1: like we're gonna have to go to this a d
Speaker 1: at the five more. Like Russ just can't get going.
Speaker 1: And I thought that second quarter when I think the
Speaker 1: Calves made like ten straight shots in a row, I
Speaker 1: believe that was Um. That was with like Russ. I
Speaker 1: think it was Russ, Um Dwight and like Mellow and
Speaker 1: you saw Vogo kind of Vogo kind of put his
Speaker 1: foot down, right, Malik Monks only played four minutes in
Speaker 1: that first half. Carmela was getting picked on relentlessly, and
Speaker 1: I don't like those lineups when he's out there with
Speaker 1: just Dwight, and I think he was also Leak Monk
Speaker 1: and he's like the main help defender, so every single
Speaker 1: time it's just a pick and roll. And they have
Speaker 1: really like high powered guards, right, Daris Garland a guy
Speaker 1: who can pull up. It's called Saxton as well, but
Speaker 1: mainly it was Garland. He was coming off. D White
Speaker 1: was up and it's Carmelo's job to help, and they
Speaker 1: just got picked on relentlessly. And I thought this was
Speaker 1: the first time I saw Vogo kind of put his
Speaker 1: foot down, like, no, if you're not gonna make that rotation,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna play. He pulled a mellow for Baysmore
Speaker 1: Monk got pulled instantly, and then Austin reaves man like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he wants I don't know if
Speaker 1: you want to be if he wants to be the
Speaker 1: next guy we talked about, But I said, I just
Speaker 1: I just thought he was huge, man like, like, I
Speaker 1: know it's not flash here or anything, but everything he
Speaker 1: does kind of just comes off the screen just because
Speaker 1: of how our other guards defend. Like he plays well.
Speaker 1: He got a lot of like uh close to jump
Speaker 1: all plays. He just in the right He's just in
Speaker 1: the right place. He chases over screens correctly, he makes
Speaker 1: the right read and it just fits our defensive coverage.
Speaker 1: What do you think of Austin reads? Because I thought
Speaker 1: I treated that he might need to start, like if
Speaker 1: we're gonna go to this a D of the five,
Speaker 1: which it seems like it needs to. And maybe just
Speaker 1: because the injuries, DeAndre Jordan will continue to start here
Speaker 1: and maybe the win tonight continues that as well. But
Speaker 1: I feel like we're gonna have to eventually go small
Speaker 1: and without injuries, he might be the one that fits
Speaker 1: in what do you see from Austin Reeves. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so let's so this is actually the perfect a little
Speaker 1: segue into the Laker defense because I thought Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley, and Dwight Poward in particular, phase more two
Speaker 1: as well had a little stretch in the second quarter
Speaker 1: in particular. But those those four guys ignited the Laker defense,
Speaker 1: and the Stars ended up following suit. As bad as
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D were defensively to start the game,
Speaker 1: they both were outrageously good and at the end of
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter blowing up stuff around the rim. So
Speaker 1: but the backwards, the ask bactwards. Part of that is
Speaker 1: the fact that it started with the role players, and
Speaker 1: that so to be I'm saying that as a massive
Speaker 1: compliment to Austin Reeves, to Avery Bradley and to those guys. However,
Speaker 1: it shouldn't work that way. And that's that's the one
Speaker 1: thing that I'd like to see to see shifted moving
Speaker 1: moving forward, is it needs to be Lebron and a
Speaker 1: D and Russ that set that example because you know
Speaker 1: what like that, that sort of thing will make it
Speaker 1: so that these because there's a consistency you can expect
Speaker 1: from those guys, but the other guys on the perpherty
Speaker 1: like Mellow, like MOLIEKMNK, those guys are are inconsistent with
Speaker 1: their defensive effort or lack their ball together, and so
Speaker 1: they're going to be more willing to put in that
Speaker 1: type of effort and gain that type of identity if
Speaker 1: they see the stars do. And I thought it was
Speaker 1: kind of unfortunate tonight that it required the role players
Speaker 1: to come in, uh you know, specifically role players that
Speaker 1: were never intended to be part of this rotation to
Speaker 1: begin with, like Bradley, like Reeves, who came in and
Speaker 1: ignited the team. As as awesome as it was and
Speaker 1: as great as those guys are, and we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: a lot about what they did to help you know
Speaker 1: why it works with them on the floor, But I
Speaker 1: just I don't as an identity of this team. It
Speaker 1: needs to trickle down from the top and and I'm hope,
Speaker 1: I'm hopeful that moving forward, that's something that Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d and Russe will embrace, because that's pretty shameful
Speaker 1: when the undrafted kid comes in and finally gets you
Speaker 1: to start playing hard, Like the kid who's literally fighting
Speaker 1: for his spot in the league is the one that
Speaker 1: finally convinces you to hit the jets a little bit,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But yeah, I mean, the
Speaker 1: Austar reach thing is that simple. It's just it's it's
Speaker 1: bottled up energy that is just being released, you know, unendingly.
Speaker 1: And during his during his shift on the floor, he
Speaker 1: literally is selling out on the defensive end, even at
Speaker 1: the expense of his body. He's diving in, getting two
Speaker 1: hands on the ball every time a guy picks up
Speaker 1: his dribble, putting his chest and face annoy. He's gonna
Speaker 1: get elbows, he's gonna get you know, shoulders in the
Speaker 1: chin and all sorts of crazy stuff. He's gonna take
Speaker 1: the beating. He's putting in the work because it's a
Speaker 1: dirty job. It's a dirty job. The chase dudes over
Speaker 1: the top of pick and roll when in the NBA
Speaker 1: the other team is running sixty pick and rolls at night,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, it's a dirty job, right,
Speaker 1: and someone's got to be willing to do it. And
Speaker 1: so far early in the season, Reeves and Bradley and
Speaker 1: Baysmore have been the three guys who have been willing
Speaker 1: to do it. Yeah, and you brought up the Reeves defense,
Speaker 1: and that's all true, but I think even on offense
Speaker 1: as well, Like I don't think you talked about him
Speaker 1: as like a guy who attacks closeouts, right, He's really
Speaker 1: good at that, and I thought you saw him like
Speaker 1: as a connector. Again, tonight he had a couple of
Speaker 1: like really nice passes where he like shot fake drove
Speaker 1: and then like cross core passed to the corner and mellow,
Speaker 1: and then he had one with the ball moved and
Speaker 1: I think he like passed fake found Russ at the rim,
Speaker 1: like he just knows how to play. And again those
Speaker 1: are all cliches, I guess, but he's just really good
Speaker 1: as a guy who's a connector who can put play
Speaker 1: next to stars and it just fits. And his defense
Speaker 1: is at a baseline level enough. And again he'll get
Speaker 1: picked on and stuff like that. But I thought, just tonight,
Speaker 1: putting him on the guards like Ruby, Ricky Robio got
Speaker 1: him a couple of times. And again Ricky Roubrio turns
Speaker 1: into Steph Curry mixed with Damian Lillard and the Lakers.
Speaker 1: For some reason, you could see Carmelo being like man,
Speaker 1: I put a hand up in like a step back
Speaker 1: left three on the wing side. But I thought, like
Speaker 1: Austin Reis did a nice job on him as well.
Speaker 1: And again, I'm just trying to fit and see how
Speaker 1: like if eight is gonna start at the five, you
Speaker 1: need two other wing guys next to Russ and Lebron,
Speaker 1: and like if if Reeves is the guy, I think
Speaker 1: he can fit until we get our kind of full
Speaker 1: rotation going. But yeah, I thought he was really good,
Speaker 1: and shout out to Avery Bradley Man. He was a
Speaker 1: plus twenty. I think um at the end of the
Speaker 1: third or something like that, he was a plus twenty.
Speaker 1: And he just fits Vogel's kind of defensive style, like
Speaker 1: you could tell Vogel likes him. They have that connection
Speaker 1: from and I think he's gonna play a lot going forward,
Speaker 1: especially if his three is going down. But he's just
Speaker 1: a tenacious guy, high like point of attack defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but like that that like Tenation's point of attack defender
Speaker 1: gets into you, like, you know, as a little sturdy,
Speaker 1: doesn't you know, give up anything, like goes around screens,
Speaker 1: chases like that just fits what Vogel wants defensively. You
Speaker 1: could tell like he went to him over Molikue Monk
Speaker 1: and you know, every Bradley wasn't even on the team
Speaker 1: him to like a couple of weeks ago, but he
Speaker 1: went with him over Mi League mon because he's the
Speaker 1: guy who's gonna defend harder. And Bradley knows the system,
Speaker 1: knows the plays. Um, he's coming off these like little handoffs.
Speaker 1: He had a nice like I think dribble handoff with
Speaker 1: a d race coord at the rim. He just kind
Speaker 1: of knows the team and he fits. I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna play a lot going forward. But yeah, I shout
Speaker 1: out to them base more as well. But I thought
Speaker 1: he played his role. Um, just high effort guys, and
Speaker 1: I think you need that. I want to ask you
Speaker 1: this because we're going into this stretch of like we're
Speaker 1: playing a bunch of bad teams, right, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: who they played next. Yeah, back to back, back to
Speaker 1: back with Houston at home Sunday Tuesday, and then Thursday
Speaker 1: they played okay see again at home and then on
Speaker 1: Saturday go to Portland. So you got three straight really
Speaker 1: really really really really bad and then uh and then
Speaker 1: they'll up for I'm wondering, like if we're about to
Speaker 1: see something like bad habits kind of build up, because
Speaker 1: I thought that's what tonight was like, even though I
Speaker 1: thought it would be a little different because of what
Speaker 1: happened and okay see, like and again I thought they
Speaker 1: started well, but then they completely again took the foot
Speaker 1: off the gas. Some of that is line up as well,
Speaker 1: but like we might see a couple of bad habits
Speaker 1: because you could tell A D and Lebron really coasted
Speaker 1: through that first half, Like, look, Evan, Evan moment was
Speaker 1: really good, Like I think that guy is going to
Speaker 1: be special, but he was like was seven for ten
Speaker 1: in that first half. Like there was just no resistance
Speaker 1: on the defensive end. And I tweeted this before, like
Speaker 1: our defensive talent isn't good enough to where if Bron
Speaker 1: and a D are disengaged on the end and we're
Speaker 1: just not going to defend, well, what do you think
Speaker 1: about like, do you think there's some bad habits they
Speaker 1: are going to be built here as we're going into
Speaker 1: the stretch with some more bad teams. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I think I think Russ in particular will want to
Speaker 1: get his revenge on Oklahoma. But but but the Houston
Speaker 1: ones in particularly, I mean, here's the thing, and this
Speaker 1: is what we were talking about this from an identity perspective,
Speaker 1: right because I was actually talking with Samus Fonder about
Speaker 1: this on Twitter earlier, Like, you know, the Lakers were
Speaker 1: so much fun to root for because you know, people
Speaker 1: like rooting for people who work hard. That's just it's
Speaker 1: just the reality. Like, it doesn't It doesn't make you
Speaker 1: more likable as an athlete to to coast and b
Speaker 1: as your right through stuff, even if you do get wins.
Speaker 1: That's an unlikable trade. You know what was Zack Loo
Speaker 1: did a really good job of this pointing this out
Speaker 1: in the season. From the start from training camp, Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d embraced the defensive end in a way
Speaker 1: that Lebron in particular had not done so since two
Speaker 1: thousand in Cleveland, and it set a tone that trickled
Speaker 1: down the roster and that's how they went twenty four
Speaker 1: and three to start the year. They had extremely good
Speaker 1: defensive habits that started from the top down. And what's
Speaker 1: been really unfortunate about this season in particular is, you know,
Speaker 1: a d we had a tendency to cut Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: slack because he's so incredibly talented, and the same goes
Speaker 1: for Lebron, Like Lebron had fifteen points in the first
Speaker 1: half and had some dunks and you know, uh was
Speaker 1: it was pretty active offensively, but it's like, actually, he
Speaker 1: was hurting the team in a lot of ways defensively,
Speaker 1: And the same goes for Anthony Davis, Like, how who's
Speaker 1: gonna look at Anthony Davis who's averaging twenty eight points
Speaker 1: and shooting coming into tonight and be like, you have
Speaker 1: to be better. You know, it's hard to do that,
Speaker 1: but that's the reality of their talent level as Tier
Speaker 1: one superstars, guys who are above everyone else in the league,
Speaker 1: Like shooting isn't enough if you're coasting through the game
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor, and especially with Lebron,
Speaker 1: like it's Lebron, Like these dudes literally grew up watching you.
Speaker 1: A lot of these younger guys on your team, like
Speaker 1: Malik Monk grew up watching you. You don't think he's
Speaker 1: going to watch you stand with your hands on your
Speaker 1: hips and watching Darius Scarland lay up the ball and
Speaker 1: offering no help and think like, like, I guess I
Speaker 1: don't have to do that either, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like it's it trickles down, and so from that standpoint,
Speaker 1: like I'm hopeful that in these Houston games and in
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City game, that Lebron and a d just
Speaker 1: attap the game themselves to try to, you know, set
Speaker 1: that tone early, which will trickle down because at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, when you're up twenty six, like
Speaker 1: they were in Oklahoma City the other night, you'd like
Speaker 1: to have those guys it out there for quarter, you know,
Speaker 1: you'd like to have them rest like a lot of
Speaker 1: the two thousand sixteen Warriors, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like have a d quarters this year. That's possible if
Speaker 1: against the games against the teams like Houston, you put
Speaker 1: people away, put teams away, and don't let it drag out.
Speaker 1: But you and I both know how this is gonna go.
Speaker 1: It's gonna get ugly. Um, I just it's just this
Speaker 1: team's identity. To this point, they've shown me that they're lazy.
Speaker 1: So if that changes, then I will change my take
Speaker 1: on what the team's identity is. But right now, every
Speaker 1: single game this year, they've had a lack of focus
Speaker 1: and effort on the defensive end of the floor for
Speaker 1: extended stretches of the game, which wasn't the case in
Speaker 1: previous years. So that what would tell you that there
Speaker 1: would change in Houston all of a sudden. Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: that's what it seems like it's going to be. And
Speaker 1: again I thought tonight after that Oklahoma City kind of lost,
Speaker 1: there would be a little bit different. I thought, like
Speaker 1: the starting ened, they come out and play well, but
Speaker 1: maybe that just second quarter there where like Calves again
Speaker 1: hit tense straight at any ready, like the lineups either
Speaker 1: mellow Dwight next to them. But let's move on to
Speaker 1: Russ because obviously Russ is gonna be the story. Like
Speaker 1: I said every single night, I thought today again, he
Speaker 1: had a lot of like I don't know how many
Speaker 1: turnovers he had. He should have probably had double if
Speaker 1: like his teammates didn't catch them. He does a lot
Speaker 1: of like this. He still does a lot of this,
Speaker 1: like where he drives, expects help, there's no help, and
Speaker 1: it's like he's in the air and now he has
Speaker 1: to throw it back out and it's like it's pretty
Speaker 1: much a turnover, even though someone does catch it. But
Speaker 1: I thought like that transition with Lebron, I thought that
Speaker 1: was something that was nice, like we found them kind
Speaker 1: of connecting transition. I thought like they found something as
Speaker 1: well at the end of the game, where like it
Speaker 1: was pretty like that's how the end of the games
Speaker 1: are gonna go. Right in the playoff games are now
Speaker 1: Lebron's gonna have the ball, he's gonna have a D
Speaker 1: as a screener, and Russ is gonna be off the ball.
Speaker 1: And I thought they kind of found something. They stuck
Speaker 1: him kind of in that dunker spot there when a
Speaker 1: d was at the five and it and it works
Speaker 1: because you don't have another big in there. But like
Speaker 1: I thought, he played okay, it was again another Russ game.
Speaker 1: What do you see from him tonight? So to rewatch
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter to see exactly the way Cleveland guarded
Speaker 1: him in those pick and roll actions that they spam. Um,
Speaker 1: I thought he, like you said, he was in the
Speaker 1: dunker spot. I thought I thought he might have been
Speaker 1: in the strong side corner for some of it, but
Speaker 1: I need to rewatch it because I just honestly don't
Speaker 1: remember exactly. But over the course of the game, from
Speaker 1: the beginning, it was such a textbook Russell Westbrook type
Speaker 1: of game. Like early early on, you have him bully
Speaker 1: Darius Garland to the basket for a layup, like that's
Speaker 1: match up hunting that I think is gonna be devastating
Speaker 1: in playoff series, is especially against a team like Brooklyn
Speaker 1: for instance, Like he's gonna be able to take Patty
Speaker 1: Mills or Kyrie Irving and just bury him in the
Speaker 1: basket on on occasion in a way that will force
Speaker 1: Brooklyn to have to send double teams, which will trickle
Speaker 1: down to open shots he had. He hit. The three
Speaker 1: that he took was wide open at the top of
Speaker 1: the key, so much so that he had a chance
Speaker 1: to think about it, which I think is almost good
Speaker 1: for him, like he should always be thinking not shoot,
Speaker 1: But if the defense is literally making him, then he
Speaker 1: can really get set up, get balanced, get his hands
Speaker 1: on the laces and knock it down, which he did.
Speaker 1: And then and then there was another possession where he
Speaker 1: caught the ball on the left corner and Jared Allen
Speaker 1: like chased him off the three point line. He just
Speaker 1: went in and dunked it like that's the but he
Speaker 1: but he took his time to set up for his shot,
Speaker 1: which baded Jared Allen to coming out that kind of
Speaker 1: patience with his jump shot is is really good. And
Speaker 1: then he also had an offensive refound on the first quarter.
Speaker 1: All good, but he also had three turnovers in the
Speaker 1: first quarter, and like two or three additional plays where
Speaker 1: like you said, when he put his head down and
Speaker 1: just barreled into the lane when there wasn't really anything
Speaker 1: there and just threw the ball back out And two
Speaker 1: of them in particular, were deflected and very easily could
Speaker 1: have been turnovers for dunks, but just happened by the
Speaker 1: luck to bounce into the hands of Lakers. So that's
Speaker 1: the rust of Westbrook experience, right. I just described five
Speaker 1: good plays and five point plays, Like that's kind of
Speaker 1: the way it goes. And every time I see that,
Speaker 1: I just think to myself, like, if he can somehow
Speaker 1: find a way to try to him back on some
Speaker 1: of the bad, this guy can really raise the ceiling
Speaker 1: of the team. But but overall, I thought it was
Speaker 1: more or less your average type of Russ performance. The
Speaker 1: big thing that I'm looking to look at in the
Speaker 1: tape tomorrow is how they utilized Russ in those pick
Speaker 1: and roll actions and whether or not because if Cleveland,
Speaker 1: if Cleveland was staying home on Russ, then it's kind
Speaker 1: of fools gold, right, because any really good defensive team
Speaker 1: is going to ignore Russ in those situations. So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm really interested to see, uh really really look back
Speaker 1: at those pick and roll possessions and see what Cleveland
Speaker 1: was doing with Russ. But overall, good game, just typical Russ,
Speaker 1: good and bad, mixed type of deal. Yeah, So for
Speaker 1: us only thirteen shot attempts in thirty four minutes, he
Speaker 1: was eight of thirteen um put in a five or six, six,
Speaker 1: five assists, six rebounds. But I thought he did away
Speaker 1: with those like really bad shots like you always talking
Speaker 1: about Tim the fat right, like he took something. He
Speaker 1: took those banker three baker banker like mid range shots,
Speaker 1: which I kind of I'm okay with. I think he
Speaker 1: hits those in okay percentage where like he's in the
Speaker 1: post isolation, Lakers aren't really running anything and he's just
Speaker 1: against the switch and he tries to bank it in.
Speaker 1: But like those like transition mid range pulled up, I
Speaker 1: thought he kind of took those away. Um, he took one.
Speaker 1: He only took one. Three and he made it. It
Speaker 1: was that one where he's wide open at the top.
Speaker 1: You talked about it, but he didn't take those like
Speaker 1: you know, I made a layup. Let me come down
Speaker 1: and and do like a job step three or one
Speaker 1: of those. Like he took all those out. And maybe
Speaker 1: that's just like the result of playing next to Lebron,
Speaker 1: I guess. And I thought like they were staggered pretty
Speaker 1: nicely tonight. Um. And when he got to play with
Speaker 1: like a D at the five, I thought it looked
Speaker 1: pretty good. Like him and a D ran a couple
Speaker 1: of ball screens and it looked like it was kind
Speaker 1: of working. Um, he got a lob to a D
Speaker 1: on one of the players. In the fourth, he got
Speaker 1: to the rim he finished. Um, this was one of
Speaker 1: the better like Russ games. Even if you put in
Speaker 1: the turnovers, which are never gonna go away, that's just
Speaker 1: kind of the that's just kind of what you get
Speaker 1: when you play with Russ. So I thought he was okay, like,
Speaker 1: this is what it should be, right, thirteen shot attempts.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a little a little low, but he was
Speaker 1: super efficient on him and that's all you can really ask.
Speaker 1: And I thought he fit kind of the defense as well.
Speaker 1: I thought his defense was fine um in the fourth too,
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's kind of what I saw from Russ
Speaker 1: Who else? Who else do you want to talk about
Speaker 1: from tonight? Well? I wanted to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: more about the defense, so you know, but what was
Speaker 1: so interesting about the last couple of years with the
Speaker 1: Lakers is, you know, for as much as people would
Speaker 1: make fun of the Lakers, is particularly the Spectrum sports
Speaker 1: Net broadcast would always throw up that graphic like Lakers
Speaker 1: haven't scored in four minutes and thirty two seconds, and
Speaker 1: it would be like ticking on the bottom of the screen.
Speaker 1: They actually used it tonight at the start of the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, which I thought was primarily a result of
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook co opting the ball from Lebron. And then
Speaker 1: when then when Lebron finally was like enough of this
Speaker 1: and to control, things kind of settled down. But the
Speaker 1: what's what was so funny about that as teams, people
Speaker 1: would make fun of the Lakers for going through these
Speaker 1: extensive scoring droughts. You and I would always point out
Speaker 1: in almost every win there was there was a pivotal
Speaker 1: defense of stretchy like a stretch, a stretch of the
Speaker 1: game where they just choked the life out of the
Speaker 1: other team. And during that stretch, you know, even if
Speaker 1: the Lakers only scored, you know, in a in a
Speaker 1: twelve minute quarter, even if they only scored twenty two points,
Speaker 1: they'd end up holding the other team to like nine
Speaker 1: or something like that, you know, and they win. That
Speaker 1: was the identity of that team. There was always that
Speaker 1: pivotal defensive stretch. And this year there have been a
Speaker 1: handful of short defensive stretches a couple of minutes here,
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes there, where the right lineup is
Speaker 1: out there and they get a bunch of stops. But
Speaker 1: they had never been able to put multiple of those together,
Speaker 1: or an extended one of those together. In the first
Speaker 1: three quarters tonight are more like the first two and
Speaker 1: a half quarters tonight. There was that one stretch in
Speaker 1: the second quarter to the end of the quarter where
Speaker 1: you know, for about four minutes they held the calves. Uh.
Speaker 1: It was either scoreless or nearly scoreless. I can't remember
Speaker 1: what it was, but all around that was Garba defense.
Speaker 1: But with two minutes and forty something seconds left in
Speaker 1: the third quarters, all the way to the two minute
Speaker 1: fifteen second mark in the fourth quarter, when the Cats
Speaker 1: took out all their starters, so over one quarter, twelve
Speaker 1: minute and twelve and a half minute stretch, basically they
Speaker 1: helped the Cats to ten point. Yeah, that is a
Speaker 1: that is a vintage l a Laker defensive stifling. We're
Speaker 1: literally choking you to death and and we're but the
Speaker 1: difference is this team can score the ball so well, Like,
Speaker 1: get over that two minutes and forty something seconds at
Speaker 1: the end of the third the Lakers scored twelve points,
Speaker 1: you know, and then and then the start of the fourth,
Speaker 1: the Lakers got really sloppy offensively and they gave up
Speaker 1: those ten That's where those ten points basically were scored,
Speaker 1: the ten points that Cleveland scored, and then they like
Speaker 1: completely strangled them again. And their offense is so nuclear
Speaker 1: with the shooting that they have now because the guys
Speaker 1: around Anthony Davis and Lebron are are so much better
Speaker 1: at shooting the ball up and they were in previous years,
Speaker 1: like Carmelo for instance, they just completely blew the game open.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, you're up twelve and it's pretty
Speaker 1: much over. Now Here comes the Calves taking their starters
Speaker 1: at the game point. Being like, I always wanted the
Speaker 1: addition of offensive talent to this team to be something
Speaker 1: that complemented the defense, not something that replaced the defense.
Speaker 1: That was never gonna work. Trying to outscore teams was
Speaker 1: never going to be a way that this could work.
Speaker 1: The only way to look at it was if we
Speaker 1: infuse some offensive talent with this group, maybe the offense,
Speaker 1: maybe our runs would be even more explosive and even
Speaker 1: more dominant. It was meant to raise the ceiling of
Speaker 1: the team, not to change the identity of the team.
Speaker 1: And so that's the key moving forward for me. That stretch,
Speaker 1: that twelve minute stretch, that needs to be like your basketball,
Speaker 1: like your basketball needs to be we are the same
Speaker 1: as our championship team with more offensive talent, so that
Speaker 1: our runs are even more explosive and so that we're
Speaker 1: even more dominant. That needs to be the way that
Speaker 1: the Stars think, the way they approached the game, because
Speaker 1: if that's the case, this team will win the title.
Speaker 1: But if it becomes a swap thing where we're giving
Speaker 1: away a bunch of ground defensively and making up for
Speaker 1: it offensively, this team will lose to somebody in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference playoffs, probably a Phoenix, probably a Utah, probably
Speaker 1: Golden State. That's that's kind of the way I see
Speaker 1: it in my opinion. Yeah, like you talked about that
Speaker 1: defensive the four, they shut the calves water off like that,
Speaker 1: that's what they Basically, they completely shut the just and
Speaker 1: it was a complete diversion from the whole game, right,
Speaker 1: So like they were coming off these screens and they
Speaker 1: were doing whatever they wanted. And in the fourth, Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d were like, no, like we're gonna be
Speaker 1: there on the help. Lebron is there, right, He's he's
Speaker 1: the help defender. That's his job now. And I think
Speaker 1: it was like russ Um when they made that running
Speaker 1: You talked about like that they have the offensive score
Speaker 1: now the offensive was mellow tonight, right, Like you can't
Speaker 1: help off Mellow, especially when he's on like that, like
Speaker 1: he was obviously on and you could tell you kind
Speaker 1: of loves playing in l A And that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: But it was like Russ Bradley, A D. Lebron and
Speaker 1: Mellow and and three of those people are for from
Speaker 1: that team. Right. We forget that KCP started in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but all year it was Avery Bradley and you could
Speaker 1: tell like they kind of turn it was great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you could tell they fit right in defensively, like
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley would you know, fight over the screen and
Speaker 1: eighties right there and eighties able to take away the
Speaker 1: shot from Garland and take away the past the lab
Speaker 1: to Jared Allen or to Mowbley and and then they
Speaker 1: would come down the other end and Lebron has the ball,
Speaker 1: uh someone eighties screen and then they find Mellows. So
Speaker 1: but yeah, their defense in that fourth quarter. I just
Speaker 1: needed to see that at least a few times. Like
Speaker 1: I don't need to see it. I want to see
Speaker 1: it every night. That would be great. I just don't
Speaker 1: think that's what we're gonna get with this team. Like
Speaker 1: this team has pretty it's been pretty clear. Where was
Speaker 1: six games in now and uh, they've given this kind
Speaker 1: of lackluster effort um a few times, and I feel
Speaker 1: like that's what we're gonna continue to get, especially with
Speaker 1: the schedule going as it is against Houston, Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: but just to see that it was really cool because
Speaker 1: you're right, that was the identity of the team, that
Speaker 1: they can really just turn your water off, and that's
Speaker 1: what they did against Garland and Mobley and all those dudes.
Speaker 1: They couldn't score ten points in the fourth I think
Speaker 1: a lot of that was free throws as well. I
Speaker 1: have to go back and watch the fourth quarter, but
Speaker 1: it felt like a lot of those were free throws
Speaker 1: and really weird, dumbfouls. But uh, but yeah, that was
Speaker 1: it was. It was great to see that they still
Speaker 1: have that in them. And I feel like every Bradley's
Speaker 1: gonna play a time going forward. Don't about you, but
Speaker 1: I just that's what it felt like from this game.
Speaker 1: To me, I was gonna see a lot more Avery
Speaker 1: Bradley if he plays this well, he will. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: the next the next step for me in my opinion,
Speaker 1: because like Cleveland's a good basketball team, You're gonna see
Speaker 1: a lot of Laker detractors over the course of the
Speaker 1: next forty eight hours trying to point out that Cleveland
Speaker 1: sucks and they don't. If you look at the way
Speaker 1: they're constructed. They're they have two bigs, but one of
Speaker 1: them is a stretched big. So it's very similar to
Speaker 1: the way the Lakers look with their big lineups, and
Speaker 1: they're they're big man that they're playing in that Dwight
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan's role is a much much better version of
Speaker 1: Dwight in DeAndre and that's that's Jared Allen. He's a
Speaker 1: very very good player at that position, Glory Marketing, really
Speaker 1: good shooter. And then both of their guards can can
Speaker 1: pick you apart out of pick and roll. So they're
Speaker 1: a good basketball team, but they're not at the level
Speaker 1: of a Phoenix or a Golden Spit or a Utah.
Speaker 1: So so the next step for me that the thing
Speaker 1: that would really solidify my optimism in this group is
Speaker 1: one of those twelve ten, ten, twelve fifteen minute stretches
Speaker 1: against one of those teams where they completely shut them down.
Speaker 1: Like the perfect example I'd use would be that Denver
Speaker 1: game last year, back when Lebron and Navy were healthy
Speaker 1: before before the Achilles issue, where they took that Denver
Speaker 1: team and just completely shut them down in the second half,
Speaker 1: like to the point where Yoga Yokitchen Murray looks completely helpless.
Speaker 1: You know that kind of thing that once I see
Speaker 1: one of those stretches that will kind of solidify it
Speaker 1: for me. But so I actually the question for you now,
Speaker 1: So you know, one of the big things that I've
Speaker 1: been hammering home all summer is this idea that accountability
Speaker 1: will transform inferior or defensive player years into defensive players
Speaker 1: that can do their job. Now, there's a couple of so,
Speaker 1: for instance, like Kyle Kuzma. Kyle Kuzma was a slow
Speaker 1: footed six nine player who you know, in terms of
Speaker 1: his lateral quickness in his first step is pretty blow
Speaker 1: average for an NBA player, but he had some size,
Speaker 1: but that was where he was lacking. So he became
Speaker 1: after being an inferior defensive player to start the campaign
Speaker 1: and then was really inconsistent in the in the in
Speaker 1: the Luke Walton years, but he became a very solid
Speaker 1: defensive player for the Lakers towards the end of the
Speaker 1: championship season and extending into last year. So God, serius
Speaker 1: heard me serious, stopped, thank you. I have home pods
Speaker 1: and they're obnoxious anyway, So um, sorry about that guys anyway.
Speaker 1: So um, so, the point is that they were able
Speaker 1: to convert Kuzma up into a passable and serviceable defensive
Speaker 1: player now there. So there's two kind of elements to
Speaker 1: that that are necessary. One, you have to have at
Speaker 1: least something that you bring to the tables an athletes.
Speaker 1: So for instance, Mellow, it's his size. He's big enough
Speaker 1: that if he gives a ship enough, he should be
Speaker 1: able to be serviceable. Molik Monk is a very good athlete,
Speaker 1: so even though he's very thin, he's got half decent
Speaker 1: size at six three in long arms and he's a
Speaker 1: very good athlete, so he has some tool to build around.
Speaker 1: And then the other big thing is the other players
Speaker 1: on the floor have to be good defensively, so it
Speaker 1: requires Lebron in a D to be you know, all
Speaker 1: defense level players for this to make sense. But I'm
Speaker 1: a big believer that they can be converted. So my
Speaker 1: question for you is, with Frank showing tonight that he
Speaker 1: is willing to bench players, including high profile players, for
Speaker 1: not defending, do you think that over the course of
Speaker 1: the season through accountability, that some of these inferior Laker
Speaker 1: players can become like Kyle Kuzma, serve supple defense supporters.
Speaker 1: I think they can. I think Kyle Kuzin is a
Speaker 1: great kind of example of this because under like Luke
Speaker 1: Wall and I remember Kyl Klusma didn't even have like
Speaker 1: a defensive stance really like it was really bad. Under Vogel,
Speaker 1: it developed and he became you're right, a service wild defender.
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzmin is also at like six seven six eight
Speaker 1: or something, so he did kind of have the tools
Speaker 1: to mix for that, like I think some guys can
Speaker 1: of Like I think Leek Monk can be better than
Speaker 1: like what he's shown. I think there's like a baseline
Speaker 1: level that he can get to um, but there's also
Speaker 1: a cap, right, there's a ceiling. It's a small guard.
Speaker 1: He's kind of light. He's not gonna become some great defender,
Speaker 1: but he can become better. I think accountability and if
Speaker 1: your minutes are gone, I'm sure him playing only four
Speaker 1: minutes tonight is a wake up call. Right, Lake Monk
Speaker 1: signed here probably thought, you know, he's gonna it's gonna
Speaker 1: play a bunch off the bench, and he got bench
Speaker 1: for Austin Reeves, the undrafted kid who came out and
Speaker 1: is playing better defensively. So I'm sure that is a
Speaker 1: step up. I still think that's I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's a skill and the effort thing. Like I think
Speaker 1: blaming defense all on effort is also a mistake as well.
Speaker 1: I think it's also like lack of focus, lack of
Speaker 1: lack of skill, lack of knowledge, like there's things there.
Speaker 1: But you're right. I think Bobo putting his foot down
Speaker 1: like tonight. I think tonight was like the first time
Speaker 1: he really kind of he really kind of put his
Speaker 1: foot down, especially with pulling Mellow as well for baseball
Speaker 1: right away, just showing that you'll you'll do that. I
Speaker 1: think that can be a wake up call. But I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna take time. Um, we're probably not gonna
Speaker 1: see those kind of real developments until the middle of
Speaker 1: the season. And that would be a whole new team
Speaker 1: as well. We'll get three new rotation guys, three guys
Speaker 1: who are supposed to be part of the defense. But
Speaker 1: I think it can. I just I don't know to
Speaker 1: what extent that it would. What do you think, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I do as well. I think it's a it's
Speaker 1: a it's a simple fact of urgency, right like if
Speaker 1: you're if you're a Malik monk and you are as
Speaker 1: bad defensively as he was in the San Antonio game. Um,
Speaker 1: but you know Frank's not pulling you, and you have
Speaker 1: the confidence to continue to be aggressive offensively to what
Speaker 1: he was. I mean it basically the the shot of
Speaker 1: that game, in that pull and that pull up three
Speaker 1: on the left wing, Like there's no urgency, there's nothing
Speaker 1: that's convincing you to sit down and get in that stance,
Speaker 1: like you know, you have an order of operations when
Speaker 1: you're playing, Like it's for all of us, for all
Speaker 1: of us old men, all of us guys that are
Speaker 1: just you know, washed playing basketball at our rec league
Speaker 1: or our l a fitness. Like when you go up there,
Speaker 1: you might have a list of priorities. And your list
Speaker 1: of priorities might be like get a sweat, you know,
Speaker 1: it might be like, you know, try try to work
Speaker 1: on your shot. Maybe you're working on your post play.
Speaker 1: Maybe you get satisfaction at a scoring and that's what
Speaker 1: matters the most of you. But the only way to
Speaker 1: actually sit in a stance and do all the things
Speaker 1: that you need to do to get defensive stops at
Speaker 1: your position, which like I said, is dirty work, you
Speaker 1: have to actually want to do it. I mean, the
Speaker 1: easiest way to uh, to want to do it is
Speaker 1: to tie that to winning. That was always will work
Speaker 1: for me, and that's what all that's what works for
Speaker 1: most of the best defensive players in the NBA. It's
Speaker 1: not that they enjoy sitting in a defensive stance and
Speaker 1: running over picking rolls all day long. It's they love
Speaker 1: winning so much, or should say, they hate losing more
Speaker 1: than they hate defending, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, they they drive that to the top
Speaker 1: of their list and it becomes their number one priority,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, it starts to dictate what
Speaker 1: they do on the court. And that to me, that
Speaker 1: to me, is where it starts. And so this season
Speaker 1: to start, because there's been no urgency because of injuries,
Speaker 1: Frank has been forced to play some guys and he
Speaker 1: was never able to build that urgency. Like what do
Speaker 1: you think Belief Monk is thinking right now, Like he's
Speaker 1: probably happy that the Lakers gotta win, right, but there's
Speaker 1: no way in the world that he's not sitting on
Speaker 1: his smartphone right now like kind of thinking to himself,
Speaker 1: like man, like I want to be out there, Like
Speaker 1: I think be out there so so how do you
Speaker 1: get out and Malik, you get out there by doing
Speaker 1: what Austin Reaves is doing, selling your soul on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. You know, like like Malik
Speaker 1: Monks made more shots than than Austin this year. Malik
Speaker 1: Monk has made bigger shots than Austin this year. He
Speaker 1: made the biggest shot of the year probably and that
Speaker 1: in that three along the left wing with san Antonio.
Speaker 1: So what did the Laker fans care most about? They
Speaker 1: seem to like Austin more so far. Why because they
Speaker 1: want to win and they know that Austin right now
Speaker 1: is helping them win to greater extent. So that's your pathway, Malik,
Speaker 1: that's your pathway to a bigger contract, that's your pathway
Speaker 1: to a bigger role, that's your pathway to being a
Speaker 1: significant piece on a winning basketball team. Is caring about
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor. So that urgency I
Speaker 1: think will trickle down into his physical tools being applied
Speaker 1: in the proper, proper way, which is selling out on
Speaker 1: the defensive end. And he can be he can and
Speaker 1: should eventually be a good defensive player. I think he
Speaker 1: has that capability. Yeah, he has like the letic tools, right,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really have the size. But also, like Malik Monk,
Speaker 1: I think that that's all true. And again, like to
Speaker 1: play on Vogel's team, I think you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: defend at a certain level. But Lik Milik Monk was
Speaker 1: brought here to get buckets, right, to score, Like that's
Speaker 1: the main reason kind of why they brought him here.
Speaker 1: I think there's line up stuff you can do as well.
Speaker 1: It's like, but the Milik Monk, you still see this
Speaker 1: like untapped potential, right, But when you see Carmelo, you're like,
Speaker 1: he's not going to get better defensively, right, Carmelo is
Speaker 1: just gonna be who he is. So there's like this
Speaker 1: line you kind of you kind of have to walk
Speaker 1: with it. I think link Monk will be better, But again,
Speaker 1: like I still see him as a guy that was
Speaker 1: brought here to get buckets, and which is why I
Speaker 1: would like to see him kind of with that starting
Speaker 1: group or play more minutes next to a d next
Speaker 1: to Lebron, two guys who can kind of cover for
Speaker 1: him defensively. He was pulled really quickly because of his defense,
Speaker 1: but also I thought like he was next to I
Speaker 1: think it was next to Melo and he was next
Speaker 1: to Dwight and one other person. I don't remember who
Speaker 1: it was. But it wasn't a great defensive line of either.
Speaker 1: But you're right, yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a great line of your really quickly to
Speaker 1: throw to throw Malika bone to your point, like, well,
Speaker 1: like I said, the two important qualifiers are it needs
Speaker 1: to be Lebron in a D carring and they need
Speaker 1: to be in that baseline of athletic town. Like the
Speaker 1: point is is like even Kyle Kuzma, if I threw
Speaker 1: him out there and some of those garbage lineups, he's
Speaker 1: going to get barbecued too. So there's a there's a
Speaker 1: baseline here. Like Carmelo looked pretty solid defensively in Crunch
Speaker 1: Times tonight. Why because he was around Baysmore and Bradley
Speaker 1: and Lebron in a D. So you so you're a
Speaker 1: thousand percent right about that part, Like you need to
Speaker 1: set them up to succeed, but they also have to
Speaker 1: meet you halfway. Like it's it's part part of Frank
Speaker 1: setting him up to succeed, but it's also part of them,
Speaker 1: you know, agreeing to the commitment that Frank is asking
Speaker 1: for sure, and I feel like we're gonna rewatch like
Speaker 1: that first half is gonna look so different to me,
Speaker 1: Like they didn't even make the calves make like two decisions.
Speaker 1: It was just a quick like screen roll, wide open
Speaker 1: shop for Lori Market and wide open dunk for Jed Allen.
Speaker 1: In the second half, they really tied it down. I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you this because was Rondo Rondo wasn't hurt?
Speaker 1: Was he well? I think he was on the injury
Speaker 1: report for something, but I think it was still able
Speaker 1: to play. But we got zero Rondo Westbrook lineup tonight.
Speaker 1: Actually Ron don't even play, So I'm wondering, what do
Speaker 1: you think? Was that just him hurt? Was that him
Speaker 1: now kind of getting out of the rotation? What do
Speaker 1: you think? Because that's what I noticed big in this game.
Speaker 1: There was no Rondo Westbrook lineup to piss us off tonight.
Speaker 1: And maybe that's just because he was kind of I
Speaker 1: think he was nursing, like a sore ankle or something
Speaker 1: like that, but no no minutes from I don't think
Speaker 1: I think it's all Lebron. I think it's ro. It's
Speaker 1: that simple, like he was out of the rotation. I
Speaker 1: think after the first game or after the second game.
Speaker 1: It was all about the fact that when Lebron went down,
Speaker 1: they needed playmaking in those bench lineups, and so they
Speaker 1: had to go to Rondo. And for the record, like
Speaker 1: you know, this is the one big thing that had
Speaker 1: me like chill out about the last couple of games,
Speaker 1: because then even the Spurs win was ugly as all hell,
Speaker 1: you know, but like what like what b what was
Speaker 1: the what was the exact quote that Basemore said. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: he was like He's like we were without our head.
Speaker 1: Haunt showed and that's the truth. That's the truth, man.
Speaker 1: Like you know, we talked, we we talked extensively about
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and some of his shortcomings in terms of
Speaker 1: like leadership um uh in the last pod. And there's
Speaker 1: some truth to that, Like there there are guys that
Speaker 1: that kinda are going to do better when they get
Speaker 1: behind the more boisterous personality, and that's what what Ron
Speaker 1: is and in all of the guys they like the
Speaker 1: whole when when he went down, everything fell out of whack,
Speaker 1: including but not limited to they had to play Rondo
Speaker 1: because they needed somebody to put all these guys in
Speaker 1: the right spots offensively, and and that was why they
Speaker 1: had to pill play Rondo. But you're right, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's associated with the injury. My hope is that
Speaker 1: if Lebron is healthy, you won't see Rondo unless it's
Speaker 1: garbage time. Yeah for sure. But yeah, I thought that
Speaker 1: was just interesting, uh that we didn't get to see him,
Speaker 1: and it was just purely purely Russ and Lebron kind
Speaker 1: of running the show. And I thought they found some
Speaker 1: gooding in lineups with that. Russ got to play with
Speaker 1: a D at the five with a couple of shooters
Speaker 1: I think it was Russ Reeves, a D Carmelo and
Speaker 1: one other person, and that worked. Russ got to the rim.
Speaker 1: You saw him like be able to open up, attack
Speaker 1: the basket, find a D. I thought they found some
Speaker 1: things that worked tonight. So this is a good window.
Speaker 1: I feel like, do you have anything else from tonight
Speaker 1: to really touch on? I'm good man, let's get like
Speaker 1: two collars up here and calling tonight for sure, Lebron
Speaker 1: twenty three? Are you there? So what's going on in
Speaker 1: so obviously you know I remember I came on after
Speaker 1: the Okay, see game, and I was kind of talking
Speaker 1: a bit more about Frank and things that he needed
Speaker 1: to do offensively and with lineups, and I think especially
Speaker 1: the second half of the third quarter and the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: you saw a lot more of like stuff that I
Speaker 1: think I expected from the team, especially defensively because I
Speaker 1: think we lose him. Yeah, I think I think it
Speaker 1: might have cut off. Well. He did bring up something
Speaker 1: interesting though about Frank, because you would you and I
Speaker 1: had specifically mentioned that the formula of the team was
Speaker 1: give Frank the defense and give Lebron the offense. And
Speaker 1: we kind of saw that tonight, right You saw you
Speaker 1: saw Frank implemented defensive scheme with personnel that completely shut
Speaker 1: down Cleveland, and then you saw Lebron picked him apart
Speaker 1: on the other end. So the partners if the partnership
Speaker 1: only works if you know the offensive coordinator and the
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator are both there. In the offensive coordinator was
Speaker 1: gone for the last two games, So there's I will
Speaker 1: always stand behind Frank because I don't think it's a
Speaker 1: coincidence what happened the last two years. Yep, me either.
Speaker 1: I feel like I don't know, I'm getting this weird
Speaker 1: like feeling with a d kind of also walking through
Speaker 1: these games. Like, like we said, we give him a
Speaker 1: lot of slack, but like he's the one that's twenty eight,
Speaker 1: he should be the one that's going off. But maybe
Speaker 1: it's just rubs off from from Lebron And also but
Speaker 1: the whole point of Russ was to kind of wake
Speaker 1: them up through these games, right, Like so it's kind
Speaker 1: of a strange thing kind of going on. Harsh Are
Speaker 1: you there? Yeah, yeah, I'm here. What's going on in?
Speaker 1: I'm good? How are you? We're doing well? Okay? So, uh,
Speaker 1: I guess the twenty three just mentioned about Google's line
Speaker 1: up staying I was in this uh the room. We
Speaker 1: were discussing the same thing that you don't know. Google
Speaker 1: made the right adjustments in this game to you know,
Speaker 1: effectively because you know, in last game, I remember that
Speaker 1: there was one line up which had Westbrook and Rondo
Speaker 1: in it, and I don't know what Bogle was thinking
Speaker 1: to put Westbrook and Rondo at the same time on
Speaker 1: the floor, because you know, to ball dominant guys two
Speaker 1: ball handlers, uh, effectively, you know, they are useless without
Speaker 1: the ball in their hands. But you know, Bocal did
Speaker 1: the right things, Uh, we made mostly the right adjustments
Speaker 1: called the time out, not the right times to make,
Speaker 1: you know, really change the momentum of the game in
Speaker 1: our favor. So prop two over for that, you know,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to ask you on your opinions about
Speaker 1: what is what will be Carmelos and carmel Anthony's role
Speaker 1: when you know, uh n n and all those guys
Speaker 1: will will be coming back from injured because you know,
Speaker 1: we won't see Carmelos shooting ball that much, you know,
Speaker 1: when these guys come back. So it's still and things.
Speaker 1: So first of all, with Frank, we need to give
Speaker 1: Frank a very important compliment or very important bit of slack,
Speaker 1: and that's that he when the ship hits the van,
Speaker 1: he will make adjustments. He you know, all season in
Speaker 1: the championship year, it was all smooth sailing, right, Like
Speaker 1: the Lakers just dominated throughout the regular season, so we
Speaker 1: didn't see him have to do too much and people
Speaker 1: would complain about lineups here and there. But then when
Speaker 1: push came to shove and they were playing Houston and
Speaker 1: Houston wasn't playing a center, guess what, we didn't play center.
Speaker 1: So you know, for for all of the things, that
Speaker 1: people give Frank a hard time for when push comes
Speaker 1: to shove, he makes the adjustment. And what was interesting
Speaker 1: about this season is it happened earlier, right like you
Speaker 1: were expecting this, this transition to defensive oriented players to
Speaker 1: eventually happen, but it happened in the fifth game because
Speaker 1: they were having they were having issues with with defense.
Speaker 1: I've caused him to fall down two and three like
Speaker 1: the urgency struck early this year, and Frank made adjustments.
Speaker 1: But the thing you mentioned about Carmelo was interesting because
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about None coming back or th HD
Speaker 1: coming back affecting his minutes. The big one is gonna
Speaker 1: be Trevor Reasa. So when Trevor Reason comes back, if
Speaker 1: he's hitting thirty eight percent of his threes, you kind
Speaker 1: of have to play him instead of Melow. But if
Speaker 1: he turns into something more like what Wesley Matthews was,
Speaker 1: where you know, three out of four nights he goes
Speaker 1: one for six from three or worse than I think,
Speaker 1: you have to go with Carmelo because as the fifth
Speaker 1: player alongside all of those other defensive players, Mellow is
Speaker 1: okay enough defensively that his super high offensive ceiling becomes
Speaker 1: worth it. But Trevor Reasa is so much better defensively
Speaker 1: that if he can knock some shots down, I think
Speaker 1: Melo's minutes and up going to him. What do you think, Roger, Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I've always said, I wanted mellow kind of the
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen minute kind mark. Right now he's playing
Speaker 1: I think like twenty plus UM, and we'll see if
Speaker 1: that kind of continues. But yeah, having him as a
Speaker 1: space so like, if his shot is going, that's a
Speaker 1: huge threat to put next to. Like I always said,
Speaker 1: next to Russ ron a d you need like some
Speaker 1: knockdown shooters. I thought Wayne Allenton could be that guy,
Speaker 1: and maybe he can't defend at a baseline level enough
Speaker 1: to play. But Carmelo is a guy who's also a
Speaker 1: fearless shooter. He's guy's gonna take the shot when it's open. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's a big kind of thing playing next
Speaker 1: to these guys and he's gonna play. UM. I don't
Speaker 1: know how much. When those guys get back, we'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see how a reason plays. A Reason should be
Speaker 1: the guy, like you said, Jason, that fits right into that. UM.
Speaker 1: But I think th HD is also going to get
Speaker 1: a shot. But yeah, I would like Carmelo at that
Speaker 1: TIF mark. But if he's hot, like he can play, um,
Speaker 1: if you can cover up for him defensively like we
Speaker 1: saw tonight, if you put him next to bron and
Speaker 1: a D when they're engaged as help defenders, you can
Speaker 1: kind of hide Carmelo in that way where it's tougher
Speaker 1: to pick on him. And I think he'll play. I
Speaker 1: think a guy like that who's a knockdown shooter, I
Speaker 1: think he's over again this year on his Catain shoots,
Speaker 1: those like isolation shots. You'd like the host kind of
Speaker 1: be minimal, but that's just that's kind of the game
Speaker 1: you get when you get Carmelo on the floor, but
Speaker 1: he's taking and making threes like that. It's electric. It's
Speaker 1: especially if you combine it with the engaged defensive Brown
Speaker 1: and Eddy. So we'll see. I don't know if a reason.
Speaker 1: I think the reason is going to come in and
Speaker 1: play a big part. But if mel sitting shots, he's
Speaker 1: gonna play for sure. Yeah, And the thing is about
Speaker 1: you know somebody. I remember in the second quarter he
Speaker 1: was being targeted back to back, you know, in the
Speaker 1: picking roll positions because you know he wasn't contributing much defensively,
Speaker 1: So I think about what the Carmelo's shortcomings are. You know,
Speaker 1: he tends to go you know, what do you call it?
Speaker 1: It tends to go cold sometimes because I don't know,
Speaker 1: so that that that accounts for somebody. So that was
Speaker 1: my that was my concern. What would be Carmelos futurement
Speaker 1: and come back comes back? Because you know, Desai is
Speaker 1: a better defender and Mogil tends to lean towards a
Speaker 1: better defensive player and compromise a bit of offense on
Speaker 1: the offense because he's a defense find good. Yeah, I agree, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there's alwa there's always a balancing act, right
Speaker 1: like if on any given night, you know, it could
Speaker 1: be a very Bradley, it could be Malik Monk, you know,
Speaker 1: it could be Trevor Reasa, it could be Carmelo Anthony.
Speaker 1: That's the the option that exists now that did not
Speaker 1: exist in previous seasons. And previous seasons you went with
Speaker 1: you know, Shrewder and KCP, or you went with Danny
Speaker 1: Green and KCP and you just you crossed your fingers
Speaker 1: and you hope they made shots, you know, because they're
Speaker 1: just there was no better option. And the difference with
Speaker 1: this year is Frank will have options. It's gonna be like, hey,
Speaker 1: this particular team, on this particular night, I prefer that
Speaker 1: little extra bit of offense, even if we give that
Speaker 1: little inch away on the defensive end in crunch time
Speaker 1: with Molik Monk or with with Carmelo Anthony those that
Speaker 1: is to me. To me, it's a versatility is all
Speaker 1: it is. And so that that's why I was a
Speaker 1: fan of the moves over the summer. The problem, the
Speaker 1: thing that I know failed to account for, at least
Speaker 1: early on, is that you know, your defensive identity comes
Speaker 1: from a group, It comes from a like a total
Speaker 1: vibe in the locker room, and when you trade out
Speaker 1: a bunch of defensive minded players for offensive minded players,
Speaker 1: sometimes that whole identity shifts. And so that's gonna be
Speaker 1: their challenge this year is making sure that they recapture
Speaker 1: that identity with this group of guys. But I in theory,
Speaker 1: having options is good. It makes for more decision making
Speaker 1: on Frank's part, which obviously is a challenge, but it's
Speaker 1: a good challenge if that makes sense. But then you
Speaker 1: could see him kind of looking for those defensive minded players,
Speaker 1: which was why I think Gavery Brawdley is gonna play
Speaker 1: a whole time going forward. And he's a guy that's
Speaker 1: also connected to that team. I think it just makes
Speaker 1: sense with the injuries we have. He fits kind of
Speaker 1: the Kendrick Nunn spot I guess for right now. UM,
Speaker 1: and I think Austin Reeves as well since he's defending.
Speaker 1: He's playing pretty well. But Marge, I appreciate you coming up.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get um one more person up here and
Speaker 1: then uh call it to night. Thanks hating man, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yes yo, yo, can you hear me? We
Speaker 1: can hear you. What's going on? Man? Okay, joined kind
Speaker 1: of late, so I don't know if you guys covered
Speaker 1: this already. My apologies, but I wanted to talk about
Speaker 1: um uh like an identity age with the team. So
Speaker 1: I know a lot of the times that people are
Speaker 1: talking about how they're trying to recreate UM like a
Speaker 1: defensive oriented team just with like a like a steroid
Speaker 1: it up offense and like if you get what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say. But right I think that I think
Speaker 1: that what we saw today is that that throughout three
Speaker 1: quarters of a game, the Lakers are like trying to
Speaker 1: keep it close, just trying to find out, especially early
Speaker 1: in the season, what's working and what's not. And then
Speaker 1: once they like walk in they can get like key
Speaker 1: stops down the stretch instead of doing what they did
Speaker 1: the last two years, which is like getting stops every
Speaker 1: single like quarter. And um, I don't know, what do
Speaker 1: you guys think about? Um, like just like that kind
Speaker 1: of identity instead of clamping for a whole forty eight
Speaker 1: minutes because I know, like, for example, last year, Miami
Speaker 1: was like they had a bunch of like terrible guard
Speaker 1: defenders in terms of like not like overly terrible, but
Speaker 1: like they weren't like good defenders, but they had to
Speaker 1: like exceptional defenders in Bam and Jimmy right, And that
Speaker 1: was their formula as well, which is like just get
Speaker 1: the key stops down the stretch because you have two
Speaker 1: of the best defenders in the league. And that's like
Speaker 1: similar to what the Lakers have right now. So I
Speaker 1: don't know, like what you guys have to say about that.
Speaker 1: So we we did talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: identity earlier, but just to kind of take it a
Speaker 1: step further with what you're bringing up, like you know
Speaker 1: the problem. So Pete Pete from Like a Film Room
Speaker 1: has been hitting on this a lot on on his
Speaker 1: pop this idea that like, can you go on defensive runs?
Speaker 1: Can you have a five minute stretch where you put
Speaker 1: a game away? And for the record, that's what the
Speaker 1: Lakers did tonight, they had a couple of defensive runs.
Speaker 1: So that is, in essence, what a defensive identity is. However,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a balancing act. Like you. This is
Speaker 1: why I like tracking defensive rating over the course of
Speaker 1: the season, because if your defensive runs are too few
Speaker 1: and too far between, it'll manifest as a defensive rating
Speaker 1: that's I'm where in the range instead of top five range, right,
Speaker 1: and that that can be a problem that can cost
Speaker 1: you not only basketball games in the regular season, but
Speaker 1: that is your identity. At that point, you are a
Speaker 1: team that only defends for short bursts and for the
Speaker 1: rest of the game coasts and that becomes your identity.
Speaker 1: The reason why identity matters is that's what you fall
Speaker 1: back on when the ship hits the fan, when it
Speaker 1: is a when it is a game four and it's
Speaker 1: series is two to one, and it's the third quarter
Speaker 1: and the scores seventy two and Lebron's jumpers not going
Speaker 1: in and Anthony Davis is jumper is not going in,
Speaker 1: and that the other team is kind of shutting off
Speaker 1: the rim and you're having trouble scoring. Like that's adversity,
Speaker 1: and in those moments you always fall back on what
Speaker 1: your identity is, which your habits are. And so that's why, Like,
Speaker 1: if you are a team that just goes on defensive
Speaker 1: runs and over the course of the season those runs
Speaker 1: were few and far between, you might try to start
Speaker 1: that engine and it just might not be there. That
Speaker 1: gear that you're trying to hit might not be there
Speaker 1: when you need it. In my opinion, the top five
Speaker 1: defensive team, a team that cares about that end and
Speaker 1: has that defensive identity, when they need to start that engine,
Speaker 1: it'll start, and they'll be able to get the necessary
Speaker 1: stops when they need to to carry them through troublesome
Speaker 1: stretches of NBA playoff games. So that's why I see
Speaker 1: it as so important. But we did talk more extensively
Speaker 1: about this identity change earlier in the pod, so you'll
Speaker 1: be able to listen to that on our podcast feed.
Speaker 1: Uh here in about a half hour. I just want
Speaker 1: to quickly like speak on because I think comparing it
Speaker 1: to Miami, Like, I think that's very interesting, that's kind
Speaker 1: of fascinating to me. In Miami now Lass Kyle Lowry
Speaker 1: and they look pretty great at least onto events from
Speaker 1: the games that I've seen. But I think the Lakers
Speaker 1: their identity, Like you can talk about this identity and stuff,
Speaker 1: but it all wraps around Anthony Davis, right, Like that's
Speaker 1: or their identity should kind of start from and then
Speaker 1: you can branch out from that. But if he looks
Speaker 1: disengaged from the first two courters, or he doesn't look
Speaker 1: like he's ready to be the help defender every single night,
Speaker 1: then you're just not gonna able to build this identity.
Speaker 1: Like obviously not having the great guard defenders and Crusoe,
Speaker 1: k CP, even Danny Green, even Dennis Shrewder to his
Speaker 1: extent um, all those guys are great, but like this
Speaker 1: has to start with a D and until we see
Speaker 1: him kind of put his foot down like Vogel put
Speaker 1: his foot down, a D needs to put his foot
Speaker 1: down as well. Right in that season, he talked about
Speaker 1: holding people accountable, you know, having Lebron make First Team
Speaker 1: All Defense, all this stuff um that he talked about,
Speaker 1: and we didn't really see it last year, um because
Speaker 1: then we gave some excuses for it, for the reasonings
Speaker 1: that there were. But this year it should be different.
Speaker 1: I need to see this every single nighte not just
Speaker 1: from Lebron. I can expect it only from a few
Speaker 1: spots here and there, but eighties twenty eight, like this
Speaker 1: is his time to take over, at least on defense.
Speaker 1: I don't expect him be him to be the offensive engine,
Speaker 1: but he can be the defensive engine, um and be
Speaker 1: that identity that I guess. I think Butler and Bam
Speaker 1: are for Miami, like a D has to be that
Speaker 1: for us. But I think that's a great point. I
Speaker 1: like that comparison there from with Miami. Yeah, good stuff, man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I don't know. This team gives me the
Speaker 1: shades of light seen calves, where like there weren't really
Speaker 1: a good defense, but in the last quarter of a game,
Speaker 1: Like I don't know. Teams had a hard time scoring
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, especially too, just because like they were
Speaker 1: an offense like German team, but at the end of games,
Speaker 1: like you had Lebron James on the defensive end making
Speaker 1: plays and like Chumper and all them, So like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, that's what this team kind of reminds
Speaker 1: me of. So yeah, that's why I just asked that
Speaker 1: the two seventeen Caves are an interesting comp and and
Speaker 1: one of the things that I think people forget about
Speaker 1: that team is, you know, as as much as they
Speaker 1: had the Warriors as an excuse, which I've always said that, Like,
Speaker 1: I think the Warriors being so good that year is
Speaker 1: exactly why Lebron let his foot off the gas Defensively,
Speaker 1: I think Lebron knew that there wasn't much of a chance,
Speaker 1: and he one of his biggest weaknesses is that when
Speaker 1: when Lebron doesn't actually sense the trophy, he can be
Speaker 1: somewhat pouty and somewhat passive aggressive, and he can be lazy,
Speaker 1: and he can do those sorts of things. Um, but
Speaker 1: that's actually a really interesting comp I'm hopeful that this
Speaker 1: is going to go a different direction very soon. Um.
Speaker 1: But I was literally tonight thinking about how they reminded
Speaker 1: me of the two thousand eighteen Cats, because the two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen Caps used to consistently find themselves behind against
Speaker 1: bad teams, which was which was like a recurring theme
Speaker 1: throughout that season, Like it just was like, here they
Speaker 1: are playing the Knicks again and they're down by fifteen,
Speaker 1: and you're like, what in the world is going on
Speaker 1: with this team? You know? But uh that that team
Speaker 1: also was pretty old if you remember. But but I'm
Speaker 1: hopeful that this team, based on what they've done in
Speaker 1: previous years with Lebron and Nydy, I'm hopeful that this
Speaker 1: team will shift away from that identity soon. But that
Speaker 1: certainly is their identity now and they deserve to be
Speaker 1: called out for that. Yeah, for sure. I appreciate it, guys. Thanks, thanks,
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Roger. Did you have anything else to night made? No?
Speaker 1: I think that's good. I appreciate everyone that came and
Speaker 1: stayed on a on a Friday night here after a
Speaker 1: really nice win. Yes, thank you guys all so much.
Speaker 1: As usual. Um, we will be back on Sunday night
Speaker 1: for the Rockets game. This will be airing on actually
Speaker 1: may not be airing on dash radio because I guess
Speaker 1: our Houston show will air on dash radio, but this
Speaker 1: one will be on our podcast feed on on all
Speaker 1: of your podcast platforms within the next half hour, so
Speaker 1: we sincerely appreciate you guys support. We will see you
Speaker 1: in a couple of days. Thanks everyone,