Episode 42: State Of The Lakers With Raj C. @UnwrittenRul3s LockerRoom Postgame Show

were legitimately very good. And I felt really bad for the coach in retrospect because making the decisions he had to make in an night and night out basis on who's gonna play who wasn't gonna play, and knowing that pretty much anybody you put out there belongs. Putting someone out there that belongs it means you have to take

someone out who also belongs. Like, for instance, playing Mark in the fourth quarter that comes with the counter effect of benching Drummond in the fourth quarter and how that

might impact his psyche. And you know, going away from like playing a lot of th h t uh to try to get dribble creation means that you're gonna end up leaving Ben Mcamore on the bench and how that affects you're facing and all of it is like this, given this take, and all you're doing is making these decisions that no matter what you do, you'll be judged on the results. So you know, no one said a damn thing about the rotation, you know, when they won

five of their last eight games. But you know, now he's getting micromanager. And it. Don't get me wrong, Like I was confused by some of the decisions he made tonight too, but at the end of the day I sympathized with him for is it just an extremely difficult job? Yeah, exactly. I mean I felt like Mark was It was pretty clear that Mark wasn't gonna play like that was just the thing that he was going to do for right

now to get Drummond and Treads minutes. But Tres was playing so bad that he got you know, Mark some running there. I I don't know, I'm not really I can't really blame the rotations, Like, I don't know how I watched this game and think like, yeah, Mark would have helped, I'm not sure he would have really changed the outcome of tonight. The Knicks were just so much more physical on their defense was on point, the rotations

were there um, and then all those turnovers. Just our margin for error is just not high enough to where if we get nothing on offense from our front court. I think Drummond and Tres had three points combined or something tonight, Like our margin FAYR is just not high enough to get nothing from them and still be able to win these type of games, especially when we're not

shooting especially well from three either. And then all those turnovers from Shooter and just reckless passes that just had no chance these lobs that I mean, Shooter through one lb to Kuzman tonight that looked like it was gonna hit the ceiling. I mean, it's just just a bunch of those plays really hurt us uh in this one. And let's see from the chat here, Yeah, Kuzmo this

three point shooting. Yeah, it's his first game back, I guess from his injury tonight, So that was he had a he had a rough He had the worst plus minus something tonight. He was like a minus twenty six or something. So that was a rough game from cous He's getting back into it though. I mean, like the thing with Kuzmas, he like he's been basically away from basketball for a week and popped into it against one of the best defenses that you'll run into on a

night and night outfit basis here in the league. Um, there was a lot of really interesting stuff to happen. I was I was really confused by how poor Montrese looked. Um. It's funny because TODJ. Gibson is kind of like, even even at TODJ. Gibson's very best, he was like a lesser version of Montrese. It's kind of an undersized, super super lanky, a little bit more defensive oriented than than tres Is, but like that kind of like undersized type of forward guy that uh had a lot of success, um,

you know in the league. And and he just got absolutely bullied on both ends of the floor. Uh. Taj always does a really good job of defending in like a kind of a foully physical type of way that for whatever reason just doesn't get called. And he's been that ever since he was in Chicago. And uh, and he just totally totally um psyched Mantras out. It looked like he wouldn't it wasn't able to get off the ground around the basket and just because of the physicality

that todj was given him. You know, the turnovers that you mentioned a second ago. It was interesting because like they turned ball over a lot back when Lebron and Navy were playing too. But back then you could be like, Okay, well Lebron is very aggressive pastor, like he's always trying to create stuff around the rim, and you know, turnover for Lebron as a kid to like a misst wide open shot because he's trying to create stuff right at

the rim. And then there was some of the stuff with like integrating all these new players, you know, all these guys that weren't around last year, and and some of the growing pains that come with that, and then they go out and the turnovers that they're experiencing now we're just slopping this like an inability to handle ball pressure, like a bunch of guys who aren't great dribble creators

being forced into dribble creation type of roles. So I think it's a different type of turnover that they're getting plagued by now compared to what it was, you know before the injuries. Yeah, I thought the Knicks hit the Lakes was some of their own medicine. Right, they were very physical. They were trapping, Um, they were trapping Shooter off screen rolls, and they were also trapping drumming in

the post. And uh, every time he would catch the ball, they would absolutely swarm and then they would kick out. The kickoff passes would be really bad. They would be at the feet like Cruise had a bunch of passes at his feet. Shooter as well, Um, really bad on point passes to the three point shooters. And then Taj Gibson like I've never seen treads and even drum into their body languages was just really bad tonight. Like they felt like they could tell they were getting manhatt old

and then it just crept through. Like like when Tres caught that ball before he got swatted by Gibson, you could tell he had zero confidence in that shot. Like he threw up some soft little floater and Gibson sent that back. Um, he threw that bag really easily. But yeah, the body language is off, but I've never really seen. This is probably the worst game I've seen from Treds and that that happens in a you know, in a two game season. Um, he you're gonna have bad nights.

But um, yeah, and the Lakers Martin Peri Joe, it's just not large enough to to take that from those guys, so hopefully picked it up. But yeah, the nixt and you got to give them credit. Julius Randall hit like six mid range contested jumpers in the first quarter. And you know, I think you said it too on Twitter. You you live with those shots like those are ones you can live with. It's all the offensive rebounds. Um, they almost felt like they got every single misshot that

came off the rim. And yeah, that that's where you lost the game tonight. That that their defense was was great. Yeah. I want to pay a compliment to Julius rand because I mean, he's been good all season, so this isn't, uh, you know, some sort of new revelation. But tonight he was just the best player on the floor by a country mile. And uh he did it by making tough shots, but he also did it by generating easy shots. He

was great defensively. Uh in the fourth quarter when they got it back to within five, he just went right back to work. Like right after that, they had a player where Alfred Payton attacked Marcus al and pick and roll gotta lay up. And then and then when it was seven and they went down and got to stop Julie' trandall came down and just absolutely bullied Mark Keith Morris for the and one and just like that, it was

it was back to ten. And and that's like feeling the moment type of stuff, like super impactful baskets that come in moments of the game when things are kind of teetering one way or the other. And I was really really impressed. He just like that that's not fake jump shooting, Like all season long, he's been consistently good as a jump shooter, even as his numbers have come

down a little bit as of late. Like he just his he's a really good shooter now and that that takes a lot of hard work, especially for a guy like him that coming out of college didn't really have great form. It wasn't really a great like he wasn't the type of guy you would expect to become a good shooter. And he just he just worked his as often and became that guy and just absolutely manhandle the

Lakers tonight um really quickly. Something I thought was really interesting that Jason Maples brought up and By the way, I reached out to Maples today and he couldn't make it tonight because he had some stuff going on. But I think he's gonna hop on the next time we do one of these, and he's obviously always great with this kind of stuff, and it'll be fun to have

him on UM. But he made a good point. He was talking about how like the Knick's defense, it just takes every single type of basic action and and and neutralizes it. Right like you run, you run your sets when you don't have great offensive talent. You run your sets to try to get something going, and then when the sets don't work, maybe you'll run pick and roll with drumming, then with shrewder, and by the end, by the by, by the middle of the third order, basically

they had completely shut all of that down. None of it was working. And if you noticed, like th HT, Shrewder, Caruso in particular k CP a little bit too, what they kept doing was making two or three aggressive dribbles, getting to like and then immediately having to pick up their dribble because the defense would shut off their driving line. And then constantly they'd be like moving around on their pivot foot because the other four guys fall immediately get

into denial. Nobody's open. They're stuck in no man's land with like eight ft from the rim, nothing really they can do, and they end up throwing some like looping pass and try to get the ball back out. That's because none of those guys have the ability to really gain an advantage in those matchups because of the players at the Knicks play. And if you look at what it would look like if a guy like Lebron or a guy like Anthony Davis is out there, you actually

simplify things. You stopped running sets. You you don't even necessarily run pick and roll. You just get to get the worst defender that's on the floor onto Lebron or enforce them either double or leave that guy in a ireland where they're going to get a good shot every time, and you can you can attack that type of defense. But tonight, once the Knicks really dialed it in like that, I knew the Lakers are gonna have a really hard time scoring. Yeah, and they had a bunch of strips

on the ball too, right. I think there was like three straight possessions where like I think Shrewder drove twice and then I think Kuzma also where they got the

hand on the ball. They're super aggressive and they're showing the highlights here Um on spectrum on the replay, and yeah, they're just they're just trapping everywhere, doubling, and it really looked like the Lakers defense, Like it looks like I'm watching a mirror, like a mirror of what the Lakers do, because that's what they do to teams, right, They trapped, make them, make them sped up, and make them go faster than they want to. And that's definitely what what

happened with the with the Lakers tonight. They looked like they were going one extra speed then they wanted to like shrewder th HD Caruso. None of them look comfortable at all, Um Kuzma and when Drummond would catch it as well, Um he did not handle any of those double teams. Well, his us is all, we're really bad passes out to the three point line, treads as well, all those guys trying to shoot over like three people

and it just wasn't working. The Knicks obviously game plan to clog up the middle, right, they weren't gonna let anyone get to the rim. I think Shrewder took a couple of mid range jumpers, but other than that, the guys really struggled with the Knicks defense. So credit to them. That was that was a great game plan by them. There's it's not a coincidence that they're the fourth best net rating defense of the league. I think they're also second in points allowed since like March, since the end

of March or something like that, behind the Lakers. So their defense is legit. And they have a star in Julius Rando and he he put well and the Lakers just turned the ball over way too much to to get a win out from tonight. Yeah, and like you know, I wanna it's like give the Knicks credit because, like you said, they defended at a Laker type of level, just flying around all over the place. There was nothing easy.

And that's the thing if you can't get the easy stuff, Like think about all the easy shots that the Nets were giving up the or night, you know, just by their sloppiness because they weren't cohesive in their rotations. If there was any breakdown, there was no second and third effort to try to shut that down. It was just it was just smooth sailing and in the next it's just nothing like that is easy. You have to do. You have to create the easy shots through a lade

high end offensive talent. They just they just didn't have that snipe. But I wanted to kind of go through some of the players. So what if let's just start with you, what did you think of th h t s performance tonight? Because I thought it was an interesting, you know, kind of microcosm of some of the things I've said about them all year, but I wanted to

hear what you had to think about it. Yeah, so, like he's really the second only guy that can dribble and playmate right on the team, especially if you're not playing Marcosol, which they did until late, especially him and Shrewder. Some whe Shrewder goes out. Is THHD taking over a little bit of Alice Caruso. I thought he played well really in the first half, like I thought he'd tried to get things going. He was attacking the rim. He got a really nice alley from Caruso as well, um

and he got it. He got some jumpers to go down to I think he had I don't know if he hit two threes or he hit one three. I thought he was fine. Um, he did kind of go into his bad habits of trying to drive and finish at the basket when they're just loading up at the rim. So I get a couple of wild shots, um that he thought he got fouled on. But I mean, it's it's tough when he's the again, like when you have

a guy like that. He's twenty right, Um, he's not gonna play well every night, but like these games are tough when he's the second primary initiator behind Shrewder, especially when Shrewder goes off the floor. He's dependent and the knicks are really good. That's what they do. They take away the basket, and that's what that's what a dig he wants to do. I thought I thought he played Okay, I mean, don't I don't think. I don't think he

was a reason they lost tonight. How about you. Well, I don't mean to say that he was the reason they lost. That's not kind of what I'm getting at here. What what I mean is like the stuff that I've said about THD all season, you know, like just a ridiculous NBA superstar type of reverse allee in transition that just literally had everybody who was watching the game like, damn, I had no idea you could do that, you know,

like I knew he could jump. He caught it and actually brought it down a little bit, just just barely, but he brought it down a little bit more and then flushed it behind his head like just an unbelievable play. First half, he had like a really hard dribble right and then crossed back between his legs step back to the three point when he actually fumbled the ball a

little bit. But it reminded me of the game winner that Terry reminded me that game winner that Terry Rozier had against the Bucks in the playoffs like three years ago, or um uh, we're just completely broke off, Eric bloodsoe, but like literally that's what it looked like. And I was just watching. I was like, you don't get that kind of separation unless dudes are just completely terrified if

you going to the rim. He had another play in the second half where kind of got a guy on his hip and he does this like almost like a three sixty with a live dribble where he just like he can he dribbles left and like gets you his right shoulder all the way into you and then just kind of like just reverse pivots, like right right at the rim. He has all of this potential, but there was an unbelievable amount of sloppiness and inability to decipher

what the Knicks were doing defensively. He still murders their spacing.

There was a play where you know, marcusol had the ball or Marcusol was an opposite corner of Kyle Kuzmo is trying to create something and they had you know, shrewder and the KCP shrewder and uh, I think it was Wes Matthews on the other end of the floor or that was th HD and TC just didn't know where to stand and at one point like he just ran to the dunker spot and and no one, no one guarded him there because they knew that he wouldn't be able to finish and be caught at there anyway.

Over All the size and he just it really like neutered what they were trying to do with Kuzma isolating at the top of the key just because the spacing was all messed up. So because teams don't respect his ability to shoot, because he struggles to decipher lead defense, because he's that guy that puts his head down and and leaves his feet with no idea where he's going with the ball and just launch is it out of bounds?

That kind of thing. That kind of thing seems to show more when he plays these really elite defenses, and I think it's just a sign of the fact that when we get into the nitty gritty here in the playoff run, that's what he's gonna see every night. And I don't know necessarily that the good outweighs the bad with him this year, but I always want to frame that with that unbelievable potential that he shows with these

ridiculous highlight plays, that there's something there. I just these nights like tonight remind me of why I wouldn't necessarily go that route in the postseason. Yeah, that that could be right. And again, like right now, the role he's playing is Lebron's role, right, That's the Lebron does for this team. He creates offense, and that's where they're they're kind of give it to him and telling him to run screen role at the top and try to create

or attack in isolation. And it's gonna work some nights when he has his jumper going, especially, but when he doesn't, it's gonna look like this. But the ones that that's terrible, it's like the passes in transition, Like he had a really bad one I think too for out he was throwing it too, but he threw it out of bounds. Those are the ones you can't have. But like, I'll live with a kind of the mistakes in the half court for right now because the Lakers need him, like

he's a guy who can create offense. And uh, with the guys on the on the floor right now, a lot of them are like specialists, like guy like Ben McLamore as well. Just he's not gonna you can't just put the ball in his hand and tell him to create. So U'm she was gonna have two turnovers, He's gonna have miss shots at the rim. Uh. He had one play tonight, right because I think the teammates are trying to figure out when he drives that players can cut

right like he's he's actually looking. He does a lot of he gets in trouble by like jumping to pass a lot. But he had one place to night, him and Cruso where he drove baseline, and I think Crusoe was supposed to drift to the corner and then a cruiser just stayed on the three and he got threw it out of bound. So plays like that are gonna happen. But like in the playoffs, I don't think this is the role he's gonna be in, right Like, maybe for a few minutes I'll throw him in there, but it

won't be for this long. It's gonna be Lebron and a d creat an offense. So he's gonna have to fit in as a defender and off ball guy, which he did last year in the playoffs for a little bit. So I'm not sure how his mint will be once we get into a like nitty greedy as you said. But yeah, I think for right now, like they need him to create offense because this is just that. You see what it looks like without him, I mean, you have it's either thrown into on your drummond or or treads.

He just did not have it tonight, so he I think he tried to create more. But yeah that he saw like both sides of him, right. You see that super highlight dunk and you see all the turnover, So there's a there's a there's a take. There's a give and take with him for sure. Yeah, and I mean you said that they absolutely they by virtue of their predicament,

they have to play him more. But they the Lakers have guard options that are better options when they have their playmaking back, you know, like the like Wesley Matthews, um is struggling still a little bit offensively because he's not getting high quality looks, but Westerlen Matthews is still a really really good defensive player. UM. I actually think Ben McLamore has shown that he's more than adequate at

doing what they need him to do defensively. Yet another really nice play today and transitions right for his first three where where he uh once was really randomed I can't remember exactly who it was, but he just jumps completely vertical at the rim on the rotation, so he wasn't even involved in the play and he was, you know, had his instincts brought him into the play and he went vertical and forced to miss ran the floor maybe

three in the corner. Um. I think that those are the kinds of guys that you'll see more of when they don't need th HDS playmaking, because like there were stretches there in the third quarter where it was like the Knicks were on a run. Teach, she's got the

ball out front. All the other guys are just kind of looking at him like we need you to create something, you know what I mean, And and and you know, and then I thought it was really messed up, a frank kinda to bring in Marcasol at the end of the game the way he did, because like I mean, anybody who's ever played knows that there's such thing as like a second wind. And at that point in the game, like everybody that's out there is has their second wind

already there. Their bodies are warm, they're good to go. And you just throw a Mark in against this ridiculously fast team and he's barely like he's got to be just completely winded, no no legs, no nothing, just because he's not. He wasn't ready for that, And immediately they just started attacking him and pick and roll Derek Rose had to lay up on him, Alfred Payton had to lay up on him. He just was a step slow around the rim. That's not to say that he's going

to be, you know, a perfect fit. And and uh and solve all their problems. But like I thought it was kind of messed up to not use him all night and then all of a sudden just throw him into the fire at the end. Yeah, I mean, honestly, like I don't think the planet was to play Marc Gasol, especially in these coming games. I just think tress and drumming, especially their body language, not just how they were playing,

just the way they were looking on the court. Um that I think that's why Marcusol playing, And he played well in his minutes. I like alp paint, he I gotta lay up on him, but like I think him just being a spacer um and give give them like a release valve. Right, I call him like a release valve, Like when Shooter has nowhere to go, he can just give it back to Mark and Mark and try to find him. He caught him on a nice back cut um.

And yeah, I mean the I mean Twitter is kind of going crazy with Marc Gasol's minutes, but I just wouldn't look too deep into that right now. Like I don't think Vogel is going game the game and match up hunting, Like I don't think he's looking at the Knicks roster and going. Okay, Gassul would fit here well, and or treads and drum would fit here well. I think he's just rolling out the lineups. I just think those two played so bad tonight that that's why Mark

got in. But you see why he's still good, Like he's obviously still a really good rotation player. I don't think he's out of the rotation. I think this is just the way the minutes are are breaking right now. So I think this is a good problem to have. And you talked about earlier with your experience with having I think it's better to have too many good players

right then than not. So I think this is the this is the problem you'd rather have here, and I think they'll they'll walk the fine line with it, obviously. But you saw Mark when he hit that three. He was fired up right like he was obviously excited to be in the game. Um, It's not like Mark was like, oh man, I gotta get in here now. So uh, it was good to see him at least get a minute. But it was weird that he got pulled so early. I thought five minutes was really quick, so that was

really strange. Um, but they got drumming back in and the game just got away from there. But I thought might might played well, Yeah, I think I think they took him out because he was getting attacked and pick and roll and he was a step slow just because he wasn't warm. But I mean, you're right. I mean, like, it's amazing how the whole like optics of the game, the whole optics of the floor shifted when he went in. But all of a sudden, all of a sudden, TODJ.

Gibson's standing, you know, seventeen ft from the rim, trying to decide where to go, and and now all of a sudden, they're running these like super extensive, drible handoff actions all of a sudden, like Dennis Shreoter's cutting back door. There's all this stuff happening on the floor that just wasn't happening before he got in the game. And that goes to show you, you know something you and I talked about a lot having to do with his versatility

and the ability to go in different directions. As you know, a game dictates it. Because you know, that game wasn't a must win, and the Lakers simply lacked the personnel to get the win. But let's pretend you know, it's Game three, you know, against in the first round series against the Clippers, and they're down by twelve in the middle of the third quarter. Drummonds, you know, shooting the bed for lack of a better term, and you know Tread's is having a rough night, he's getting bullied by

a baker or whatever it is. You know, it's that ability to be like, let's try Mark and see what happens and put him at the top of the key, get Lebron off the ball, whatever it is you need to do to to try to just mix things up. And when you combine that with the you know, the ability of Lebron and Navy to go to that extra level, um, you know, offensively, I think it's just I think it's it's an absolute value add And that's why, you know, any talk he won't be he won't be bought out

anyway because the deadline has passed. But that's why that talk never made any sense to me, because he was he while they had a sudden depth in the front court, Marcosol was the only player of his archetype, you know that stretched the floor. Really smart position, old offender who can run your offense really with the ball in his hands at the top of key like that. They didn't have anybody else like that, so giving that up never

made any sense. It's like, it's the reason why you need to have an Alex Crusoe or a PhD on your team. But at the same time, you need your Wesley Matthews and you're in your Ben Naclimore. You need

your guys who can feel different roles. So it's like we're going all in on spacing with Lebron Pep playing all these shooters, or like we're going all in on running the floor and transition and just flying around on defense, We're gonna play a lot of you know, Crusoe and debts, you know like that those are the different looks that you need to hit different gears in a playoff series. Uh, and it could be the difference between winning and losing

quite frankly. Yeah, And I guess my only critique with Bogo is that, um, I would have loved to see I think this would have been a perfect game to see treasing this alve play together. I Mean, none of the big really had it going yet, so it's not like you were gonna take any menage from someone who was playing well. I thought it had been and it's just not. This is not taking my word for it.

He's the one that said he would try this. So it's the only reason why I'm still pushing on it because he's the one that said he would try some good soul and tres minutes together. But yeah, but that's the only thing I would say with him, Like, I don't know people are blaming Vogel for this loss. I mean, I think it's tough, but that the Knicks played really well and our big just had nothing going. Maybe Marcusol coming in earlier helps that, but I just don't think

that would have switched this game. That the Knicks played really well, and uh yeah, I just would have loved to see those two at least get it shot at some minutes together because not having any miss together with what like fifteen sixteen games left or something whatever games

are left, um, is strange. For two guys who are so so much a part of the rotation to not share the floor is a really strange thing to be in this late into the season, especially when you factor in the Frank has like literally said, I can't like I'm gonna play are exactly together, Like it just doesn't make any sense. And especially in the game like tonight where nothing's working, Like, man, throw something, like throw something

at the wall and see if it sticks. You know, that's like the type of attitude that I think you gotta have. But again, like we talked about earlier, you know, it just has an impossible job in my opinion, and you know, he's got this ravenous fan base behind him, and he's in a position where it's difficult to win games, and the team still has championship expectations, so it's it's tough.

And again, I want to give a lot of credit to the New York Mix because, like you know, I was actually thinking before the game, you know, kind of bridging the gap over to talking about what happened with Brooklyn. You know, the Lakers beat Brooklyn's asked because they just played so much harder than them, like, so so much harder than them, and it punched him in the mouth.

I mean Kevin Kevin Kevin Durant basically said so much in his postgame interview, and uh, and to me that that was kind of like this new identity that took over the team because like last season, and then for the first half of this season, even with as good

as they were, their effort was inconsistent. Like they would lock in some nights and just absolutely smother teams, and then they played team like Portland and kind of just bs their way through the game and then get beat by hot Hand, you know, And that was just kind of their identity was like, you know, we can turn it on whenever we want, but you know, like we're

we're kind of inconsistent. And then when Lebron and a d went down, all of a sudden, like, dude, every night they're they're bringing it, like every night they they I like, I feel confident that they're going to come out and defend, and tonight I thought their defense was actually good. It was more there the other hustle stuff, like the rebounds, the focus, the physicality. I thought that's

where they got kind of beat um. But it is interesting how their new identity has shifted towards being like this really consistent, like like blue collar type of team.

Even Frank Frank said after the next game, he's like, I just love the way this team is playing right now, and it's kind of been cool to see and It's kind of fun to think about how bringing Lebron and a D back in when the identity has kind of shifted towards being like, now, all these other guys are so consistent in their hard work that they kind of have to match that. Yeah, exactly, And that's the point of this team is like they're not going to give up, right.

I think the Knicks had a couple like double digit leads that the Lakers kind of came back on. I thought the defense was fine tonight. Honestly, other than the offensive rebounding like that, they defended pretty well. And again, when you get nothing from you know, Treds, who who's the double double Jude score under Drummond, gave him nothing on offense tonight, and they still had They still had a chance to win this one and with a hopefully

a D can come back pretty soon. Yeah, I guess the Nets, I mean, going from LaMarcus Alders and Blake Griffin to like TODJ. Gibson and even though TODJ. Gibson is also as older, but um, TODJ. Gibson and New Orleans done well and guys like that against this also knickst events that prides themselves on there, you know, and how hard they play on that end as well. Um, it's just a total different, you know, team that you

play against. But I don't think that takes away from how impressive you know what I mean that that Nets win was. I mean, that's a team that again was spotting Kevin Durant on the other side and Kyrie Remming for a half tonight. The Lakers just didn't didn't score enough. But yeah, when you when you think about putting Lebron and a d back on this team, hopefully, it's just

it should be a seamless fit. Right when you pit superstars back in um, and you have now two guys who are also just probably the best defenders of their position as well. UM, putting them onto a team that's already locking down, Um, it should be. It should be really good and they should be able to pick up more wins going. So it's a winnable game tomorrow as well. They play Charlotte tomorrow on the road, and I think they can get that one. No, LaMelo, LaMelo's out for

the year obviously, and we'll see. But yeah, I think that pretty much sums this game. That Knicks just they played a lot better, a lot harder. You can tell the difference between the Knicks and Nets on what they prioritize on their teams. What was your biggest takeaway from the Nets game? I want to touch on that game just for a few minutes before we start getting other people involved here. Yeah. For me, I think it's like

the Lakers, obviously they play hard every night. I think that that's what it showed, right, showed their culture is just to play really hard on defense and if they can get open shots to go in, like they can blow teams out, like don't come with the requisite effort. And obviously the Nets didn't. You know, obviously with with how shorthand the Lakers are in Superstar, they didn't come with the records the effort as if Lebron and he were playing. And if you don't do that, Lakers are

gonna defend well. And I thought their game plan was great rewatching that game, how they defended Kevin Durant, especially when Kyrie went out. Their double teams and traps rotations were pretty perfect that night, and then they got open

threes to go t hit a bunch of threes. Ben Malcolmore obviously got hot, uh and then there I guess I want to ask you, I guess about Ben Malcolmore really quickly, because I thought it was impressive tonight that even though he started like one for four, um, he still takes those like tough threes even though he's not having it going. I think that's something this team needed. I know you're hot, You're hot on Ben Malkimore. Um, so what do you think of him these last least

as two games. Yeah, I'm super high in him. I think he makes so much sense with this roster. I thought Maples again had had something that he said in his podcast on on Sunday that was super interesting, having to do with just his aggression, Like this is something we all talked about with KCP. Like when KCP is in a rhythm and he's really going, it's like he's flying up the floor and transition like he's got a

really quick trigger. He's got a really quick trigger. Hit a quick trigger tonight, like I man, if he had any space, it was going up and he just looked really confident in his decisions. And then it just all kind of fades. When he's not playing well, you know, everything FA's his defense made. He'll like he'll start getting gunshy, like he'll pass up on open shots, we'll start pump making a ghost and whereas like when he's really in a rhythm, he doesn't even need much space and he'll

just go up. But Ben Ben just has a completely different ideology and it comes from his whole approach to the game, but it also comes from the confidence that the group feeds him. But he just basically is ready to fire if there's even an inch of space, and it doesn't matter that he's over four. You know, that's his whole mentality. And to me, you know, everything is about the perception of space. Like a th hd actually shot from three, it's not going to change the fact

that teams aren't gonna guard him. Like that's the difference There's it was the Rondo effect from last year, Like Rondo would make some threes, but the possessions where Rondo would make a three, we're like this really stupid stagnant possession where everybody's kind of standing around, and then Rondo's like, dad, fine, I guess I'll shoot it, and like he made of them.

But like it was I don't want to say it was a net negative to the offense, but it wasn't like a really cool, like popping around possession that ended in somebody making a shot. It was always like a different type of deal. And you know, McLamore gives you some of that really fluid shooting that's gonna really generate real space for the shooters and the Lebron's and the in the Anthony davis Is of the world to get

to work around the paint um. And then you know what a couple of huge takeaways I had from that Brooklyn Nets game. First of all, like Kyrie Irving is Kyrie Irving. He's You're not stopping him. I mean, like as someone who as someone who watched him every single night for years, like you, you're not going to stop that guy. And I've watched him against the very best defenses in the league, like against Clay Thompson in the Golden State Warrior defense that was all over the place.

He's gonna get to his shots. But there's a difference between like Kyrie making it look too easy and making him work for his stuff. And I thought the Lakers demonstrated in that game, especially through Dennis Shooter at the point of attack, just picking him up full court, making things difficult for him. That that it like legitimately made

him work hard. And then one of the craziest things I've ever seen um And I know there was another story surrounded this, and I don't even want to get into it, but the like Dennis got in his head a little bit and legitimately psyched him out because I've never ever in my time watching Kyrie seen him do that. I have never seen him lose his cool and start like cutting a player out and like freaking out and

leaving the floor. That just was never his personality. He was so like his on court demeanor was always so different and and I think Shrewder deserved some credit for that just by being a test Like he just irritated him all night and then whatever was said that was said that put him over the edge, that's a separate story.

But what got him to that point of irritability was then as Shrewder and the work he was putting in defensively, and I thought that that was really really interesting in the way that it affected him, and that's something stupid like that is something that can have a significant impact on the playoff series to where you feel comfortable in that matchup, Like yeah, Kyrie is going to get his twenty four tonight, but Dennis is gonna make him work, and it's not going to be as impactful as it

would be if we were giving up a significantly worse matchup, if that makes sense. Yeah, and Shrewder was scoring right back on him, right like. I think that's where the crustation was going on. I don't think any of that probably well, I mean what happened with him is a different story, as you said, But yeah, Screwder was scoring on him. They were kind of hunting him, making him defend, making him go around screens, um, and just making him work for his points right like he had PhD had

an awesome defensive posession on him. Kyrie just hit a ridiculous shot, But yeah, Shooter was magic him bucket for bucket, And I think that's what important. What's important. You're not gonna match Kyrie's production with Shooter, I don't think. But I like, he puts up twenty four and Shooter can put up seventeen eighteen. Um. I think that's a win in that kind of in that kind of series, and

they're gonna make him work. I think that again, the Lakers Nets matchup we've been through as a really fascinating kind of difference in styles. Um, and like the Lakers want to kind of bully you, and I thought Drummond and Uh kind of showed that right, Like I like my one of my big takeaways from the game is I don't think LaMarcus Arger just playable, you know Lakers Net series, Like, I just don't think you can run

him out with against like even just Andre Drummond. But when a d gets to Lebron, Uh, those guys are just gonna feast at the rim. So they're gonna have to rely on thirty five year old Aldredge or how rold Blake Griffin is or twenty twenty one year old Ceedie Claxton. So that's a thing that they're going to have to figure out or just run Jeff Green at

the five. So um, that's that's kind of my main takeaway from that NETS game that Lakers are gonna pretty much get to the room and they want obviously harder and Kyrie Katie are hell to defend. But like that that was my main takeaway is like this, it's gonna be a Lakers are gonna try to make that a bruising matchup while the Nets are going to try to make that like a speed kind of run run down the core offensive game. Yeah, so that was the second thing I was going to get at, and I think

you at the nail on the head. It just has to do with the way the matchups worked out. And if you remember when when when Ben McLamore got signed, I told you that one of the main reasons why I wasn't as concerned about him defensively is that the way that the way that the Laker defense was set up was different from the Houston defense. Because the Houston defense, which is more or less the same as the Brooklyn defense, the switch everything defense, it's all about leaving guys on

an island. And they do it on purpose because even if you do score, um, the idea is it stagnates you. They want they want you to not move the ball around. They want you to continue to attack in isolation. And I'll give you two quick examples to kind of show the juxtaposition between the two. So Andre Drummond gets a post up against LaMarcus Aldridge, they're not sending help. It's

like you got on LaMarcus. We'll see what happens because it's gonna it's gonna bog down their offense or whatever it is that they're hoping to do, and and Andre just just completely bullies him. So and Tonight's in tonight's game, Ben McLamore gets a switch and he ends up on Julius Randall immediately the Lakers Lakers and a double in the double, there's a chaotic rotation that leads to a

contested r J. Barrett corner three. Because the Laker defense is completely different from the way that that Brooklyn Nets defense is set up. They are all about helping each other and they never want to give up a mismatch if they can avoid it. And it's all about trusting, like making up for personnel weaknesses with extra effort plays.

That's like the whole way that their their their system is set up, and ironically that the Knicks are set up the same way, because guess what, like Andre Drummond can just as easily bully Newlands Noel as he can uh LaMarcus Audreys. The differences is the Knicks were like, we're not gonna let bully Netherlands Noel, Like we're gonna dig at him, We're gonna dive at the ball like that, every time you put the ball on the floor, there were hands in there like it was it was congestion,

and it was it was. It was just just a total chaotic environment around the paint that made it so that LaMarcus was man every time you put them on the floor. It seems like something bad happened, you know.

But that's the difference between those two defensive concepts. And when I look at that series now, you know, the Lakers had and the Dennish Shrewder stuff in the first half of that game where he was just absolutely destroying, you know, like you make Claxton and in all Dredge and all these guys on switches and then every single time they drop into the paint, he just made them

pay from the three point line. Shruder is just yet another option that the Lakers can go to against that switching defense to attack specific mismatches, like now you can throw it down to Al Dredge in the post against the Katie or against LaMarcus Aldridge. You can get Shrewder working in switches against the Bigs on the perimeter. You can get Lebron in the post. You can get Lebron on the perimeter you can get Anthony Davis in the post. Anything Davids can spot up at the three point line.

They have all these different methods of attack and and I think like in a weird way, you know, in the same way that the next events kind of shut down the Lakers tonight, you know, the Brooklyn Nets defense is going to kind of keep things open for the Lakers and played directly into their hands because the Lakers are not a heavy motion type of offense. They've always even with Lebron and maybe they've always been attacking certain

matchups type of offense. And so like, I have my big takeaway from that game as I think they're built for that, yeah, for sure. And that's why I think even just a D coming back would help this team so much, because you could tell, like there are so many possessions where they'll just look at each other like

what are we running here? And you know you could see Shooter move his hand a lot, like all right, let's just let's run this, you know, a little little double drag here for KCP or get Kuzma coming off the screen or something like just to run sets. And I think with a D coming back, just have a guy that you know like, Okay, he's the first option here, like this is what we're going to and then play out of that would would help them so much against

the Nets. Again, like that's their defense is just like I see the Lakers as a team that if you get an advantage against them, you have to take it. You can take an advantage of that in like a split second, right, So let's say when they trap, you have like to you have like a split second to decide where you want the balls to go, and they make guys who aren't making decisions like that have to make those decisions, so like Bruce Brown had to make

those Bruce trying to make those decisions, Jeff Green, et cetera. Again, when when they have all their stars back, it'll be tougher. But again, I think that's what they want to do, is all their traps are going to try to make guys who don't who aren't good at making really quick first read high i Q pass read decisions have to make those passes at a high level. And you can see what happens, especially against the nets. Um they had really trouble creating good offense and uh yeah, that's what

the Lakers doing. The Nets with their defense. When I was rewatching the game, it was like, once they get once they get beat, once it's over, they just let the advantage stay. Like when th Hd would come with pick and roll and Aldridge would would help. No one's bat, no one's on the back line, so it would just be a layup for Drummond or or Treads whoever was there. Treads got like five dunks on just sitting in the dunker spot waiting for the ball because the rim protection

just wasn't there off the help. So, yeah, these two teams, like the Knicks and the Nets, are just totally different in terms of their identities and what they're kind of going for right now, and that I think that was

a difference in the two games. Yeah, And the microcosm of the of the Brooklyn Nets kind of like lack of cohesive defense was that play after Ben McLamore made all the threes where they had basically Montres Harold's said a pin down for um for Ben coming off the screen and and then basically Tries just slipped the pin down and too Brooklyn Nets guys ran with Lackamore and Treads, Treads was wide open for the back doorality of dunk like that to me is it reminded me of watching

like the two seventeen Calves who were so sloppy in their defensive cohesiveness, and that just seeing those two different defenses two nights apart, the nets in the mix, there's such a huge difference between the two of them, and I I think that that stuff matters in a playoff series where each possession carries so much value, that team that is more cohesive defensively is going to gain a

significant advantage. Or Now whether or not that's enough to make up for the difference between you know, a team that has James Harden, Kevin Durant, m Kyrie iring on it, we'll find out. But that's why I like your chances in that matchup. But Roger, I made you do your host so you want to get some people involved in here? Yeah? Sure. So if anyone wants to come up and uh talk, give a comment, question which whichever, or just you know Ben thought about the game or anything, just request the

speak and I'll add you up. Meanwhile, I'll go through the chat here. Um, they said, one of them says where the Lakers turnovers mostly on force. Um said they shot themselves on the foot. I would agree with that, right, Jason. Most of these were on force turnovers. I mean, the next defense was good, but a lot of these were just I think he spoke a while Eli there. They were just bad passes. Are you know, bad ideas, just things with very very high risk, low reward kind of

passes exactly. It's the it's the difference between what the end result of the past would be. Like when you throw a turnover on a swing pass or in any sort of bailout pass where you've got into the paint, no one's really open, and you're just throwing the ball

up in the air, and it's a turnover. It's an unforced error, but it's also a turnover that carry absolutely no potential for reward, whereas like if Lebron throws a full core pass the k CP streaking the floor and the dude picks it off, it's like, if that pass gets through, it's a dunk. You know, there's a there's a difference there, So at least you can you can paint that as as as part of the process of

trying to generate offense. But yeah, I think I think the Lakers absolutely had as of late, a lot of unforced turnover, a lot of un first errors, and a lot of turnovers that don't carry the benefit um that could come when the pass act really is completed. Yeah, exactly. And again, anyone wants to come up, let me know, or you can just type a question in the chat. I'll read as well. Um. So another one. Drummond looked bad tonight. There are points where he looked a little disinterested.

I wonder if that was a lack of post ups. I don't think it was from a lack of post ups. I mean, I think he understood how he was being defended. They were just trapping him. He did have some bad body language, but I think that was just he could tell he wasn't playing well. And him and Tres both they looked like they were coming from the same kind of energy tonight. They just didn't have it, and that

that happens sometimes. Yeah. No, Roger had mentioned earlier that you just had bad audio language, and so did Montres. And I thought they both got discouraged just by how

badly they were getting outplayed. And you know, some of that is like the pressure that comes with being in the position they're in, you know, I think I think it's a lot of pressure to know, like like it was, I'm one of the players when montrese like I think it was the one that you mentioned earlier, he tried to shoot that little whimpy floater over TODs and got blocked, Like like see him running down the floor thinking like for the people on Twitter hate me for that one,

you know, like that's just kind of the vibe that surrounds him sometimes. But yeah, I mean, as far as his role in the offense goes and getting touches, like, I would hope that there's communication coming from the alpha's in that locker room that would prevent anybody from getting to how it might be for for what their role is going to be, you know what I mean exactly. Yeah, and another one, um Trez was too small tonight. Yeah, we just touched on it. I'm not sure if it's

how it was mostly the thing. I think he just had a bad night, but Gibson and uh Nobel really really put it to him very hard to rebound with Tress on the floor. If there's no gang rebounding, it's curtains. I mean, Tress is a pretty good offensive rebounder, which I was kind of surprised why he struggled so much. I think I think again, I think the side just got to him tonight. But the whole team kind of struggled with that. They weren't really boxing out, and the

Knick star team that really crashed the boards. I haven't looked at the numbers, but I believe they're one of the best offensive rebounding teams um in the league. But yeah, that that was just tough. What do you think about the offensive rebounding, Jason? Was that just the Lakers not boxing out? Was that um uh, the Nicks just attacking the boards or just maybe a mixture of both there like that. Like I said earlier, I thought that that

was the area where their effort was lacking. Like I thought, thank you and I both agreed that their defense was was dialed in plenty. It was more just all of this stuff on the periphery of that where they got out worked by New York. As far as Montrez's offensive rebunding goes, it's interesting because guys who are really really good offensive rebounders, a lot of them don't do it with positioning like that. You know, there's different types of rebounders.

There's you know, your your Moses Malone type of a rebounder or just did it in his entire career by by gaining position on guys. And then there's the Kyle Kuzma type that the Montrese Harold type. You guys who get offensive rebounding get offensive rebounds basically by crashing. You know, they're they're relentless crashers. And the differences is, you know, h on the other end, they you know, when you

when you're a positional rebounder, you dig the contact. You're constantly involved in box outs and you're seeking bodies and you're always trying to gain position on people. Well, when you're a crash you're like, you're you're kind of anti contact in a lot of ways because your your whole

purpose of what you're doing is to avoid bodies. And I think I think Montrese just he's bad at boxing out and and it's because his whole you know, embracing you know, the physicality of the game, he's all about avoiding that contact in order to slip by guys the rebounds. Even as a post up player, he's not like a Mantrese is not necessarily like a put it for your chest type of post up player, Like he's the guy that will face you up and new crossovers and do

sweeping hooks and things like that. He's more of a like he can do like a power dribble finish, you know, when when he's gonna catch and finish type of role. But he's he's you know, he's not the kind of guy that that is is great at the actual you know, physicality of rebounding, you know, getting attached to people's bodies, squatting load and pushing them out of the paint so that they can't jump, because more often than not, dudes are just reaching and jumping over the top of him

and getting it. And if you do a good box out, like, no one's getting that. No one involved in the box out is getting the rebound, even the guy who's doing the boxing out. You leave it to the guards to come in and crash. And I just think that that's

a personal weakness of his. And you know, Mantrese, just like you and I have talked to so many times, you mentioned like if Montrese was an amazing defensive rebounder, an amazing offensive rebounder, and an amazing defender who also gave me twenty points and sixty shooting every night, he'd be an All Star, Like he'd be a super Max

player like that, like the all of these dudes. When you're getting down these depth charts come with positives and negatives, and if they didn't, they would be thirty million dollar year superstars. And so Mantrese's weakness, one of his weaknesses has got a few. But one of his weaknesses is that he's not great as a physical, boxing out type of of of big that can help secure defensive rebounds.

It's a little area of weakness with this game. Yeah, And what's funny about him is like, um, I think I said the statuar that he's passed out like four times after getting the pall in the post like all season or some some low number like that. But he's like he tries to dunk when you know there's like four people around him, so he'll be like physical then, but when it's like a one on one matchup, he'll like drive and then fade away doing like a hook

shot or something like that. So it's funny when he gets physical. Beyond the boards, he's not really much especially defensive rebounding is where he struggles. Um, he's a better offensive rebounder. He has nice touch around the rim. Um let me see here yet, shout out James. He said, I think this is the point that we kind of agree with Bogol just collecting data points right now, um finishing up. The politics of playing Trey and Tres overmark

playoffs will be different. I think we agree. I'm not sure how much politics of it is, but I mean, I think Bogol's getting data points. I don't think he's going into these um matchup you know, matchup dependent right now. Lakers, I don't even think have the talent for that to be matu depending. But I don't think he's doing that. Would you agree with that the playoffs will be different? I probably played a lot more. You know, treads is

out or you know, whatever matchup we go, weever matchup decides. Yeah. I mean think I think of it this way, like, how how often last year did we get frustrated with available kings mints right and then and then when push came to shove, those minutes just ceased to exist because at the end of the day, you know, like there's there's a sense of urgency that clicks in at specific moments in the postseason where it's time to stop messing around.

But but I agree that I think he's just kind of trying to see what works and and getting a feel for specific lineups and try to see because some of some of its natural fit and some of it's not natural fit, and you just kind of gotta feel

things out. Like there's that moment earlier this year where they started every fourth quarter with you know, talent Horton, Tucker, Von Tres Harrell and and Lebron and they just would blitz teams to start the fourth quarter, like you just, oh crap, Like there's something there that works and we need to kind of see what's going on there. Like I think that's that's all it is. And I want to reiterate what I said at the beginning of the show,

which is a Frank Vocal has an impossible job. He's he's a head coach of a team with the largest and most ravenous fan base in the n b A, with championship expectations and playing without the two stars that the entire roster was built around um and and he has vastly exceeded expectations in this stretch and you know, I always talked like with the with the I used the Warriors as an example, Like teams like the Warriors fan base has been so relentless in criticism of Steve

Kerr and in criticism of everybody on that roster, and it's so ridiculous because it's like, Dude, they lost Clay Thompson and they lost Kevin Durant in the last two off seasons and they're basically playing with a duct taped roster. And if you anybody that knows basketball that you asked before the season, you'd have been like, yeah, they're fighting for the eighth seed. And guess what, they're fighting for

the eight seed. And so the idea that they're actually in terms of what the end results of these games are, they're doing fine, but people are so obsessed with, you know, micromanaging what's an impossible job that Speaker has now, which is winning games in a ridiculously stacked Western Conference without the talent advantage. He's more or less doing exactly has as we expected him to do. And that's kind of

what Frank is dealing with right now. Like he literally was dealt a crap handed cards where his two best players went down with an injury. Kuzma has been down with an injury at some points. You know, Gasol went down for a little bit, you know, Dennis getting ejected in the middle of the game. He's been dealt crappy

handed cards over the last twelve games. And if you would have told us before that stretch, with all of the personnel issues that they'd have, that they would go five and seven and have like huge wins along the way, we'd all be like, absolutely, sign where where do we sign? We'll take that, you know, And I think like we all need to kind of understand and adjust our expectations and and and cut Frank a lot of slack for what it's just a really difficult job that he has

right now. Yeah, exactly. I Mean, no one was talking rotations when they were up twenty on the nets, right I Mean I tweeted today like did we already forget that Nets game happened? I mean that was Saturday, Saturday,

which is like two days ago. And people are like, man, big Voga doesn't know how to coach, Like, come on, man, he's coaching the number one defense right now without Lebron James Anthony Davis take seventy million dollars cap Forget the two players, take seventy millions of dollars of cap room off of any team and see how they played. So

I think they've definitely overgone expectations. Um, shout out. Michael Moraless says, when Bron and a D come back, what role do you see drumm and playing on the offense. He was like, we won't see too many drumm and post ups when they get back, So I think his impact on offense is kind of muted. Yeah, I mean, I think we've talked about this a lot. I mean, his role is gonna change. He's not gonna be a post up guy. Guy that throw it into that's gonna be Lebron. That's gonna be a D. And then he's

gonna guy that's gonna be able to crash offensive rebounds. Um, the nick sent like two guys to him, and if you saw this Jay today on the offensive, on the defensive rebounding, they sent two guys to box him out specifically, and he couldn't get any offensive I think he got only like one or two offensive rebounds tonight. I have to check and check the numbers, but it felt like he didn't get um that many. And yeah, I think

his role is gonna change. He's gonna buy a guy that taxes the boards, sit in the dunker spot, um get very little. He's gonna get like the jabail kind of like, hey here's a possession, go go nuts, you know what I mean. But other than that, I think he's going to be a guy who just fits into the fits into the role. And uh, yeah, he got one offensive rebound tonight, so he had not nine defensive rebounds one offensive rebound, which kind of fit the tape for me that they really went to box him out.

And yeah, so what do you think his role will be when they get back, when when the two Stars get back? Well so, more or lesser. His entire career, he's been either the primary focus of the defense or the secondary focus of the defense. And and just about every lineup he'll be exposed to in this postseason run, he'll be the third or fourth, you know, pity defensive defensively, the other team, they're not gonna be able to throw

multiple guys at him. And I kind of see him doing exactly what he did against the Nets, which is specific mismatches when there's lots of space around him for him to go to work, because he's just sloppy with the ball. But when he has lots of space to go to go to work, not as much congestion and surrounded by other high i Q players, I see them

feeding him to attack specific match up. But also just you know, like I mentioned in our last pod, just fatigue oriented possessions like the you know, the Lebron's out there with the bench shooter in eighty year on our are on the bench getting rest, and you know, Lebron has been aggressive on three or four straight possessions, and they feed Drummond almost as like a like an on core type of rest situation for Lebron to just try to generate something that's kind of what I mainly see

for him. Um. And then like he's literally never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever ever come close to playing with anybody who remotely resembles what the Ron can do as a ball handler. Ver So I don't think we know what it's gonna look like. I think there's a whole other part of this game that we're going to be exposed to. Um. Just as you know, a pick and roll uh screener with a new elite decision maker. That's something that he never had before. I mean, we just look at what

Lebron helped do for a D last year. It's just kinda kind of just think of a similar type of of of development for for Drummond as well. Yeah, I forget Adie. Look what he did for Damien Jones this year. I mean Jones fifteen or sixteen from the field of the Laker and it still wasn't enough for sit for that rest of the season signing. But yeah, I think he's gonna be fine when Learn and a D come back, He's gonna be able to fit his role. UM shout out.

Ryan was colleague to the Clippers, scare you they added Rondo, but to unsay're gonna trying to play with the Collegian I really liked the Rondo signing for them. I think he really helps them, Like especially when Paul Joe Jin Kauai kind of get midrange happy, He's able to kind of decide where the ball goes. But again, I think there's a regular season rondo, there's a playoff rondo, and then there's a myth that kind of puts both of

those together. Um, Like, I think he played well in the I think he played well in the playoffs, I think, but you know, I think that was kind of mythologized even more because of the history, and you know, he had a great Game six. I mean, he watched that and he played really well. But I think those spurts kind of weren't showed. But I think he's gonna help them. What do you think of the additions, I don't know.

I don't think they scare. I mean, you're the big Clipper guy that they don't like, but um, I don't think scare is the right word. But you know, have you seen a few of their games lately? Do you think they're They're playing a little bit better and they match up better now with with a surgeon Rondo, but the tune against the Lakers so consistently since the beginning. I said that I thought the Clippers were the greatest threat to the Lakers. I think it. I think it

just has to do with matchups. I don't think that I think the Clippers would lose that Nuggets in a playoff series that started tomorrow. I think they would struggle against the Jazz. I think they would. I think it'd be a coin flip type of deal with the Sons, but I think the Nuggets would flat out beat them. Um. But that said, of all of those teams I mentioned,

I think the Clippers have the best chance. We actually talked about this in the pot the other day, like a D is this a D is this neutralizing effect for for Gobert that that throws the whole series off and they just don't have the wing defenders to guard Lebron. And then you look at the Nuggets, It's like their greatest action that they run is like a Yo Kitchen Murray pick and roll, and it works because they're so

different in their size that teams can't switch it. With the Lakers and and uh, Lebron and Navy are just gonna switch that action and shut them down. And they have the problem of having to put Aaron Gordon on either Lebron or a D which leaves Michael Porter Jr. To have to guard either Lebron or a D which is just a huge mismatch for them. And we went down that and go any further, but we went down

the list with all those other guys. With the Clippers, you can actually kind of draw out how they would guard the Kers, and you can see how they kind of do like a more coherent version of what the Nets do where they switch everything, but they have like less weakness on the floor. So I've always believed that they presented threat as far as the Rondo signing goes. Like, you know, I we all had to eat our words a little bit with the Rondo stuff because he was

so bad for two entire regular seasons. He had good moments in the playoffs, but that kind of took on a life of its own and became this huge narrative that he had, you know, somehow become like the third

member of this big three. And I think that that was totally ridiculous because he's still The thing with Rondo is that he for every night that he has where he's transcendent offensively, he has another night where he's completely inept, and then defensively he is the number one, like the most likely candidate to throw your defense off by being

by making his upwoard decision. He's a textbook like gambler gets himself out of position kind of like kind of at the same time slacks like he's a fifteen year superstar, but he's not a fifteen year superstar, and he quits possessions, like he there's a lot of stuff with Rondo that that comes at to negative And he went from being an absolute nightmare in the regular season to being a serviceable backup guard in the playoffs. But I think I

think a lot of his impact was overstated. And and and guess what, he looks fantastic against Chris Paul the other night. He hates Chris Paul. I don't know what the deal is. He absolutely destroyed Chris Paul. That's one night, and every Laker fan out there knows what that experience is, like

the one night Rondo renaissance. We've all seen it. And then and then they'll disappear into the ether for the next week and they may win or lose in the in these games, but like, like Rondo's gonna have some really bad ones mixed in there, you know, like, and it will never be the story, right. And I think the most interesting to me thing about the Clippers of the zoo Bog chrisions Staredge, because I think zoo bo

Is actually is better and he should be starting. But you know, I don't know what happens when Serge Bobby gets back. He's a guy that Lebron has picked on in playoff series in the past, and has has really struggled against Lebron as a guy that is going to try to defend in space, He's obviously gonna spread out. He gives them that three point shooting. But I think that's a fascinating thing that they'll be able to. UM. Kind of they'll have to decide once the playoffs comes around,

because he's he's really picked up their defense. But we're we're past an hour here, UM, and I guess that no one, no one wants to speak or try to request to speak. UM. There's just one last question here that's kind of funny to me. Shot out. DJ mcindogg says, in the summer of if Lebron goes to Golden State, how many ring does he have now and what team and what team is not at this moment if that happens, so I guess they have Steph Clay Iggy, and then

I guess Lebron joins that team somehow. I don't think. I don't think the cap spiked yet during that season, so but again done some kind of like signing trade something like that. I have a really hard time figuring that kind of thing out because I think Lebron is all about the narrative. And you know, like notice when he went to Cleveland, even though there was a clear basketball x's and those things, he went when they were in a playoff team, so he knew that he'd get

credit for their success. Right, Like it became Lebron took this perennial loser Kyrie Irving and turned him into a winner. Lebron took this perennial loser and Kevin Love and turn him into winner. And then there was the coming home part of it. Well, the Lakers is the same thing.

It was like Lebron is resurrecting this this this historic franchise that has completely gone to ship and they're terrible and and he and now like Lebron is literally regarded as the person who fixed the Lakers, you know, like like he's all about the narrative. And if there's one thing that Kevin Durant screwed up, you know, because Kevin

dur had the team part down. Like Kevin Durrant knows how to put himself in a position where he's on a kid gas basketball team that's just almost guaranteed to win that he's better at that than Lebron on But Kevin Durrett has completely butchered the narrative part of it, like completely butchered it. Like he he has completely put himself in the position where he's experiencing the exact opposite

effect of those Lebron narratives. It's it's, you know, I joined this powerhouse team and and they had already won a championship. You know, we're like I went to Brooklyn and it was kind of sloppy, and then all of a sudden, James Harden comes on and we're beating the hell out of everybody. I'm not I'm not even playing, you know, Like he just that that narrative part ends up kind of carrying more weight because people just want

to know what the story is. It's it's twenty years from now when we're sitting by a water cooler and we're happy to be talking basketball, Like, how do we tell the story of Katie's career? How do we tell the story of Lebron's career? And and like, regardless of results and regardless of all the machinations that go on behind the scenes, like there's a narrative part of it that Lebron knocked out of the park. He never would have gone to Golden State in two douzen four team

for that reason. You know what I mean. Do we have any other questions that were good? I think we're good. I think I think we went and went draw shout out James san Diego, Thank you for questions, Michael um, Wholos, Rob, DJ mcindog, Mr Sli, Thank you guys all for questions for tonight. Yeah, and thanks for tuning in. Guys. Like I said, don't be don't be gun shy, hit the button and and come join us and talk some hoops

next time. Um, and I'm going to immediately after closing this out, I'm gonna go onto my laptop and uh and put this into a podcast and I will release it for you guys to listen to tomorrow when it's entirety. But Roger and I are gonna try to do this every week and um, next week will we have in Jason Maple's come on as well, so that'll be fine, and then Roger and I will be bringing you a full length podcast on Friday morning as well. That's awesome.

Thank you guys. Thanks everyone, alight, guys, have a good night. S