Episode 53: Lakers/Pacers Postgame Spaces

they didn't need to. UM, but you could at least pay attention to some of the matchups on the floor that we've been waiting to see all season. Uh, and get a good look at what their core lineups are gonna be, basically minus Alex Caruso, who was the only guy who was out tonight. Um, today, I should say. But anyway, I guess I guess we have to start with the wrong So let's start there. Rog what did

you think of of what you thought from Lebron's return? Yeah, I thought he looked pretty good to me, Like there was a few moments where he wasn't really have as much burst as he usually does, but he had like the huge dunk in the first half, And man, I said like the Lakers were running without any point guards right for a while there, and just to have to go from no point guards to Lebron James running your offense,

it just looks so much more smooth. They had a little scoring drought in the end, but he was getting everyone in the right place, running the correct actions, telling drum and where to stand to when to tell a d to kind of come up. It was good to see him back, and he just really just walked into what I think he finished with like points, uh, nine assists, eight rebounds or something like that, just his normal line. He just really walked into that UM office in his

first game. Note he had not really that much rust to me, had the biggest shots in the game in the fourth quarter too. I liked. I thought he looked good. I thought he looked fine. Um. He looked like himself, which is the most important thing to me. I think he'll get his rhythm back, He'll get you know, more comfortable um with his athleticism as we go here. But just seeing him like back out there playing with this unit was the biggest thing. That's what this team needed.

These wins are really great to get out of the planning game would be great, but just seeing Lebron and Adie looked back themselves was cool, especially Lebron tonight. Yeah, I agree, there were three. They're kind of like three elements to the Lebron return that I want to touch on. One how he looks physically, to kind of what he brings to the offense and how much it changes everything.

And then three like what what do you make of the stuff like what happened at the end of the game, which which I want to touch on that as well as far as how he looks physically. I thought everyone

overreacted a little bit to the dunk. Obviously it was amazing, But you and I have been hitting on since the beginning that you know Lebron's left like wasn't the injured leg, and that's his best takeoff leg, and that you know, for for what his right foot is, it's gonna mostly manifest in my opinion on uh, kind of like off motion jumpers where he has to plant on both legs, anything that involves, you know, a quick defensive movement one way or another. Um, it's also going to affect his

first step a little bit. You know, he could push off his left leg, but that next step is going to be that right leg pulling him forward, and all of that is part of of his overall mobility above and beyond you know him elevating and transition. I thought the overall he looked pretty good. I mean, if you look, if you really think about it, he kind of coasted through that game that wasn't exactly Lebron you know, playoff intensive,

going crazy. He barely broke a sweat and got his you know, his stat line that you just that you just laid out. I thought there were a couple of examples in the first half. Both of them were and ones if I remember correctly, where he showed that burst to beat someone off the dribble and get into the paint. But I kind of felt like he was testing that but not overdoing it, as he kind of wanted to

ease his way into the game. But overall, physically, I think he does look as good as you can hope under this circumstance, and he certainly looks good enough to be able to bring the level of impact that you

need from him. But the one play that I said, I pointed out on Twitter was that spin move and transition where he went into Goga's body and did that that kind of purouetting spin move that he always does where it's all off of one leg and uh, and he kind of lost his balance, didn't quite get the

lift and he missed the layoup. And you know, when Lebron's actually in really good physical condition and he's got his legs underneath him, that's one of those moves where he just powers through the guy, gets tons of elevation and gets an easy lay up out of it. And so those are the kinds of plays that we should keep an eye on in the next few weeks as indicators of how well he's progressing to getting his conditioning

and getting his legs back. Yeah, for sure. In indiana's kind of like a nice team to come back against, right there, mouse Turners a bonus, Um even brogged in. All these duds are like all defense type of players, So it's a good team to kind of come back against. Um. They had I think Goga blistered with their center. Right there was rim protector. He's not really gonna stop Lebron when he wants to. I felt like when Lebron wanted to attack the room, he could. He got to the room.

Like you said, those uh, those two and one. So it was a good game for him be able to attack and just go against a team that can't really stop. And you're right, like he was really just relaxed to this game. Like, I didn't think he broke his way. I thought he really liked that. Like I said, I thought he walked into his eight and seven like he was really relaxed. Um. Other than that like fourth quarter where he kind of turned it on. So it's good

to see him get back tomorrow. I think the Pelicans also have a lot of guys out, a good team to kind of go against. I'm not sure he'll play in the back to back, um, but yeah, I thought he thought he looked good. This is a good team to go against. You can't this is not like an all defense team, right, So it was felt very like All Star Game a little bit like that through the game, like a lot of no defense and the type of possessions back and forth, a lot of layups given a

lot of dunks. I think they had like nine dunks within like the third quarter, a lot of us um. So it was a good team, a good game for him to just get his sweat and even just getting his sway. He put up eight and seven, um and just have him organized in the offense. I just look, it looks so much more clean without you know, having to have PhD have the ball for for thirty two

men tonight. Yeah. So this is the This is that second thing I wanted to touch on, which is just him in general controlling the offense and how different it looks. You know, uh, there are all there. There are always openings when a defense is really engaged in kind of jumping around and shading other players. There's always the openings, and it just takes a specific type of offensive player a Lebron and Yokich, you know, Luca, you know, a gifted passer to uh to to identify those openings and

to make teams pay when that happens. And you know, there were two or three lobs in that game where you know, lobs that the Lakers have basically completely missed over the last you know, thirty games, where you know, you know, easy easy dunks to drum in and Anthony

Davis at the rim. These are the kinds of plays that Lebron reopens up just in general, like his ability to you know, kind of stand at the top of the key, direct traffic get guys to lean one way, get a switch somewhere where he can identify another opening

without expending too much energy. That's the kind of stuff that I think was missing from the Lakers offense in general, and it was really nice to have that back because at the end of the day, like as as as long as you know, we've we've rooted for carus So to be able to make those plays, We've rooted for Shooter to be able to make those plays. We've wanted

Anthony Davis to get better at reading double teams. But at the end of the day, it's going to be about Lebron making those decisions and having him back and kind of the Laker offense getting easy, easy looks again, which is not something they used to get that to me, that to me, it was really refreshing. Yeah, my favorite play might have been like that play right before the half. They kind of showed with this whole team. We talked about it all year that it's built around Lebron right

and his shock creation. So like Drummond try to come down and I think he tried to seal in the post and then Lebron told him to move into that dunker spot and then he got a d to come up for a little ball screen right, and then so you got a d roll and got him the ball, and then the eighty dished it to Drummond for a dunk, and just kind of showed like his kind of control of the floor. He had Casey b in one corner.

I forgot who was in the other corner, but it showed like this team has built around his shock creation and even if he's not, he can still kind of get into rhythm in these these few games. And then that first round, Um, it looks like they're not going to play the Clippers, so whoever they played, Denver or Phoenix, he can kind of get his get his rhythm going as the games go on. So I thought it was

a good night from Lebron. Yeah, so let's let's talk about that last thing, which was the way the offense looked there in the fourth fourth quarter when things kind of bogged down. Um, I think you mentioned this earlier.

The game kind of had a little bit of an All Star Game feel to it, which, you know, maybe it's a bit of a bit of an exaggeration, but you're right in the sense that it was an open floor with two teams that were playing sloppy defense and giving up a lot of easy looks, and you know, the drum in debt of five lineups are really going to rear their ugly head against specific teams. You know, against a Clippers, against you know, UH, Phoenix or Utah, any team that is a is a well put together

defensive team. And then it specifically the the Indiana Pacers, who I think they're four teenth and defense this year, so they're not like, you know, some crazy shutdown defense, but they were missing a bunch of guys too, so you might think of that, you might think of them

as a below average defensive team. But when when it's when it's winning time and you know, they think they have a chance, you know, they're within five with six minutes left or whatever, within nine, and they think they have a chance, and all of them are doing their jobs and all of them are focused, and all the easy stuff gets taken away. That's when the drummond that the five stuff is gonna show up. And you you saw it in the in the form of you know, all of the uh they all they could do is

run screen and roll with Drummond. They had to put a d as a spot up shooter because when they ran the A D Lebron pick and roll, nothing was open because there was a third a third defender involved, and so what ended up happening is their primary decision maker, Lebron ended up settling for a lot of jumpers, and it worked out in the end because he ended up

making a bunch at the end. But the stagnation is a result of the the best passer on the form, Lebron, not seeing any openings, and the openings aren't there because of Drummond in a defense that's focused and taking away the easy stuff and making you, you know, uh, generate an advantage. But all of the all of those Lebron and ad actions and other defenders involved because of the lack of spacing, which I think is something to keep

an eye on, yeah, for sure. And they I think they also had t HD on the floor if I'm not mistaken, right up to this game, so they had him, they had th HD, and then they had a D trying to be in spot up. His jumper wasn't really going as well late in the game and they were really doubling hard. I thought he wasn't really good passing out of doubles in the fourth quarter and if you saw that as well. So it's basically just Lebron trying to create with Andre Drummond, Who've got some good looks

in the paint. Like I thought, Drummond had actually a pretty good game. We can talk talk about him later, but you have some good licks in the paint. His flip shots didn't go which you know it's gonna go in or not. It's kind of how it goes with Andre Drummond. Um. And then Lebron hit his jump shots like and then they switched a few of the actions. You got some step back three is that really ended the game? But yeah, that's spacing is week. We've been

talking about this spacing since last year. Right, This is the same thing with Javel, same thing with Dwight Hard or Dwight Hard. Maybe a little bit different. Um, those dudes are lob threat, so it helps a little bit more. But still that same spacing is there. Right, you go to Lebron, Javel, Lebron, Dwight genial action. Uh, at the end of games, it's gonna it's gonna look like this,

it's gonna look clunky. Um in the in the playoffs, I'm pretty sure if this is like an actual, like a real game, they wanted to win a little bit more, they would have put a D at the five right eventually, especially against Indiana, who doesn't even have a real five out there. I think they have, Remember they have Sampson or Goga to close. I'm not really sure, but it was someone who should not be it was defend a

D yet I think it was. I think it was. Remember, Okay, Okay, yeah, so still that's a that's a guy that you can easily well, you can play a D at the five with anyone, but again, especially a guy like that who's a spacing not really a post up center, right, not really a guy who's gonna bruise you down low. So that's what I thought in those spacing is going to

be there with Entred, just what's going to have to be? Uh, It's okay if your defense is stifling, you know what I mean, Like you gotta get the trade off, Like if you're trading off spacing, but you're getting back ridiculous defensive pressure that's forcing the other team to stagnate and and wearing them down physically while simultaneously getting offensive rebounds and other things that add value to the game. Then we can sit back and look at it and be like, hey,

this is working out. But I'm not saying it was drum Ins fault, but the defensive effort from the Lakers at the end of that game was embarrassing. I mean, on the last play when Lebron missed that crazy step back and again this is Labron has a tendency to do this when he does not feel threatened, which he very clearly did not today. But he missed that step

back three and just didn't get back on defense. And it was a five point game with like thirty seconds left, so in theory, if they scored there, you would have been back in a one session game. And and I think Harris Laverna end up missing a three or something

so it didn't matter. But again, like it's just the Lakers, weren't you know, if you have to settle for jumpers because Drummonds out there and there's a lack of spacing, fine, but you need to punish them in every other facet of the game for their lack of size to match up against you. And I thought I thought that that was the part that got to iron out, Like if you're gonna do that lineup, you have to be really sharp defensively. You've got to crash the offensive glass wall.

Also having people who get back in transition. It just needs to be sharp everywhere else, if that makes sense. But I don't think. I think too often people point to Lebron in this case and be like, oh, there's no movement, Oh he's settling. And don't get me wrong, I mean those things are true, but that is a side effect of the lack of spacing, because I promise you Lebron would love to get things freely moving and

a couple of driving kicks for an open shot. It's just the driving lanes aren't there, the simple pick and roll actions aren't working because there's a third defender involved. It's just it's it's classic stagnation that occurs when the defense stops messing around. It takes away the easy stuff and you are playing with extra defenders involved into play. No for sure, And again I didn't think the defense was locked in all night like. It felt like they just tried to kind of get Lebron and a D

going offense, with which which they did right. They got those two, They got those two going and the defense wasn't really clocked in. UM. I thought the clothesouts were pretty bad, and every time they went up like ten, they just take their foot off the gas pedal. But like went ten and eleven, just stopped playing, UM stopped going for rebounds. The pace has only had eight offensive rebounds,

but it felt like a lot more than that. They got a lot of second chance points, a lot of balls that just hit the floor right, a lot of rebounds that hit the floor before anyone went on it. I felt like, so the defense wasn't where it's at. But like I think the most important thing is lebron A d kind of looked like themselves offensively right the space ship She's gonna be there with With Andre Drummond, that's just how it is. I just don't see him

like playing, especially with gasol. Because I didn't get any miss tonight, I really don't expect that UM in the playoffs, Andrew Drummond got most of the center minutes tonight. He played a lot with lebron A d Uh and even Shrewder. But again, if like shrewders not hitting his jump shots, t HD is out there, there's just nowhere to go. We can't can't expect Lebron and tried to drive into three people. Um A D also wasn't comfortable with his double teams how they were playing them, so he was

just standing in the corner as well. So that Laking Lake Game Office, I'm not really worried about about that. I'm not terribly worried about it either, because I do think that the they'll be with a D at the five for the most part, and you know, they're just flat out Lebron is one of on the shortlist of people that you should really trust and crunch time to

consistently make the right decision. So I'm not worried about that. UM. Let's let's talk a little bit about the rotation though, because we got our first peak at what the Laker rotation looks like at full strength minus Caruso. UM, I think we can safely th HD was the first guy off the bench, so I think we can safely assume that that's kind of where Carusoe would slot in. I

think it's kind of I know where THHD was. We didn't see any Marcasol, we saw a lot of Mantraz with a D. We saw that bench lineup get run by Shrewder and Lebron and we did see mc lamore, although he was strangely unaggressive today. I thought he passed up on some open shots, which was kind of jarring considering the way he used to play. But I guess I should say, what is What was your kind of

a takeaway from the rotation? Was there anything that you liked that you didn't like, anything that you thought was interesting just in terms of how the subs were handled today. Yeah, the only thing I didn't like, I guess was like that that three guard lineup, but I was like, I

think it was th H t West. I forgot who the other guard was, um, but it was just like a that lineup that Ben Marcamarre there go it was THHD ben Marcamore And those two off the ball were just really bad, I thought, especially if Ben Marcamore wasn't giving the shooting. And then t H. I thought he had a really nice game off the ball. He had like two threes um offensively, but his defense still he was getting lost lot of back cuts and I thought this was a game for Tress right, like this is

a game for him to play. Um, he gave a lot of it back in my opinion. Like hard Um, he wasn't really doing much on defense. Samson had a career night though that a lot of that was like him finishing over him. Um, this is a good this is supposed to be the matchup he can play. Though that they have a small ball five that they play. They put Tres as the backup five, Tress playing with a d um That that's why I thought he played tonight. And again, all these guys to me are magic dependent.

I didn't see anything really wrong with the rotation. Um. I miss Alex Russo, to be honest, and missed him tonight, like I thought they needed one more kind of guard defender out there. But other than that, thought it was fine. Shrewder looked like, uh, he was kind of still getting himself in rhythm. I thought he picked it up in the second half. It looks like they kind of cut his minutes off in the fourth quarter because I think they closed with th HD if I remember correctly. So so, yeah,

how about you. Did you see anything interesting from the rotation? Yeah? So quickly on Montrez, I thought, um, you know, I thought this was a great example of a matchup where he could succeed. But I'm gonna cut in the same slack that I want to cut that maclamore, which is you know, the deep. The Laker defense as a unit wasn't very polished, so it tends to accentuate guy's flaws. And I do think for both Treads and and and uh McLamore, there are there are better opportunities for them

to succeed in this defense when everyone's doing their job. Um, you know, for instance, like Montrez was kind of cotton no man's land a lot tonight because of the sloppy rotations and was frequently out of position, constantly trying to cut off driving lanes from guys who were getting beat on straight line drives, which is which is kind of a symptom of lazy defense, lazy closeouts. So just in general, like I think, I think it could look better, um

for both of those guys. But yes, they were sloppy, you right, Montrese gave back a lot of that. And here's the thing to Jakar Sampson, he you know, he's kind of like we're shown Holmes, like if he's going to take a bunch of these crazy push shots from seven to ten ft and they all go in like some sometimes that's just that's this is not really a whole lot you can do about that. You have to punish him to say, well, the same way you punished Montrez about using his lack of size against him and

really starting to physically man handle him. UM. I wish it would have played a little bit more Wesley Matthews. I think he only played twelve minutes tonight. UM. I would imagine Dennis Shrewder's limit had something to do with him coming back as well and just his conditioning because

he only played twenty seven minutes. I thought k CP looked awesome, and I thought Kuzma looked awesome, And there's no reason for there's no player that we're really worried about at this point except for maybe Mark Keith Morris UM. And the truth of the matter is that they don't need him as much as they needed him last year because they have the guard depth to go um with Lebron and a d at the four or five, and

because Kuzmas so much better. A lot of times Mark Kith kind of played in the role that Kuzma was in last year, so that I don't necessarily think keeps cold shooting is as much of a worry as it would have been last year where they really needed him in those uh as in like a small ball five. Yeah, I like your point on Samson with the Ployers because I thought Carris Liver hit a like a lot of tough shots tonight, like a bunch of like step back fadeaways.

I'm not sure you could really do much with so Like, Yeah, I didn't really have any questions with the rotation. I would have liked marked at least get in there a little bit, um, But it looks like they were just gonna they were just gonna sit in tonight, So I guess I kind of wanted to move on. Like to Anthony Davis, what do you what do you see from him?

He had a huge first half one points. I think in the first half he looks good, like again, he looks like he's just uh like building off his last games, right, like he's just continuing to get better. Um, his jumper wasn't really falling because getting to the rim they had no one to kind of stop him. Download what else did you see from him? And I thought he would I thought he really got going. I I thought he

played a great game. Um. You know the thing with a d is that he that he's starting to figure out too, is that he can actually kind of go up over some of these double teams almost Joel almost Joel and Bead style. Um, he had a two or three of them like this today where he was on the right block, you know, dribbling the strong hand and and would would power dribble into the middle the double

would come. But when the double would come, he would just kind of gather and go low and then rip through and go up high and shoot his little hook shot. And basically one of two things is gonna happen there. You're gonna draw the foul or you're gonna get up over everybody, in which case you have a really high percentage hook shot there. And what I like about that is it's an alternative counter two. Okay, I'm not seeing the floor super well, I'm having trouble with these double teams.

How do I make him pay for doubling me? And I think that's I think Joel Embiad has made a living out of that this year, And I think that's a great example of a way that he can kind of counter that is just taking that kind of James Harden, Joel embiad ripped through to the middle as he goes into his hook shot. Um, you know, the big thing is he's starting to get those easy shots again, to the stuff from Lebron and pick and roll, because that's

how Ad hits that magic thirty number. Is he gets lots of easy, easy stuff mixed in with his difficult stuff, which then allows him to hit his numbers. But you know, I think he continues to look great physically. I didn't see him laboring the groin at all today, did you. I thought he thought he looked great. Um, so I I am cautiously optimistic that this can work. You know, I think we need to be ready for some Lebron

sloppiness and turnovers and miss jump shots. I think we need to be prepared for some defensive kinks just because these guys have been played together a lot. But I don't see any glaring concerns at this point. It kind of seems to be coming together at the right time. Yeah. The big indicator to me is his free throw attempts. Right. He shot ten free throws again tonight, Like I thought his aggressive this kind of waned down the stretch. I don't know if he got tired or something like. But

but again, ten free throws, that's awesome. He took eleven shots in the first quarter, which I thought was huge. Just seeing him still aggressive with Lebron out there right Lebron said, like you said, get some really easy looks. A lot of screen action with him, him and Shrewder, I thought built a little bit of chemistry. As the game went on, Shrewder found him on a on a few drives UM, and again just seeing him look like himself. I think it's the biggest thing going to the playoffs.

We talked about it. Those two have to look right. All this other stuff is kind of It's kind of still gravy to me. I'm getting to win, um. Everyone else kind of getting the role Shrewder getting back from from COVID and everything. But those two they look like they're they're rolling as the playoffs go here. So hopefully they can get the win tomorrow UM and then try to stay out of this, stay out of this playing if Denver can win tomorrow. But a D I thought

it looked really really good. His three still UM didn't fall tonight. He was one for four from three, but he had two offensive rebounds like he was attacking the glass double double ten boards um and again just I

thought he was impactful. He wasn't. He wasn't the defender that he was against New York, right, Like I didn't think he didn't he didn't bring with yeah, the whole team again, like they looked like they were playing at tenning m Like it looked very much like a super super early game, just try to get the game out of the way kind of thing. But he looked, he looked good. I thought, is he was moving well, which

is the most important thing. You You touched on this a second ago, and it was an interesting, uh kind of side plot there. A D was a lot more aggressive when Lebron went to the bench at the halfway through the first quarter, and that's kind of when he got going. And the thing is is, like, you know, I think there's a little bit too much of an unselfishness thing that goes on between the two of them, and Lebron will snap out of it and crunch time

and he'll start shooting. But the truth of the matter is is you're right. A D needs to be that aggressive when Lebron is on the floor because Lebron wants him to look Lebron's whole basketball identity is like he's going to have his phases where he's super aggressive, but outside of that, he's begging you guys to be aggressive. He's begging shooters to to to to fire away if there's an inch of space. He's begging guys to go up and pick and roll and try to draw foul,

try to get something going. And so I hope to see more of that from a D. And as far as his three point shooting goes like that is p would have been my biggest nitpick of him um this season is the lack of three point shot volume, because I thought that was a huge part of his game in the postseason and it's a huge part of the Lakers spacing getting getting You know, the difference between Rudy Gobert being a non factor in that type of series and him kind of being a factor is gonna come

down to a D being an aggressive three point shooter, you know, because at the end of the day, it's not about whether or not he makes a few of them. It's about whether or not Gobert guards him out there. And the only way that Gobert or an Eton or a zoobots whoever, whoever it is that they go against the only way they're going to go out there is if he's taken six or seven of them a game.

And I think that's so important and and and I think he can get those attempts without disrupting the rest of his offense, Like it doesn't fatigue him, you know, I think the Lakers will be happy with him taking more shots. So I think I think that's an easy fixed for for some of his rhythm stuff. It's just just happen be a little bit more aggressive if he

catches and has a look at the rim from three. Yeah, it's much more important when you're playing playing with like a nonspacing five, right, Like, it has to be the one that that's shooting. If he's at the five, you can kind of get away with it a little bit more. You can run more street actions, have him dive into the rim. But he's playing next to Treads and Drummond. He has to take those three. So one for four, I'm glad he's even taking him, you know, even if

he's not making them. Um, he's taking four. He took four tonight, which I think was good. Some of them were I think more contested than than others, but yeah, he has to shoot them. I think if he's playing next to like Marcusol and the Market kind of be the spacer, right like, he can be the one on the paint and then mark and kind of take those threes.

But he has a big part of the playoffs. His whole jumper was a huge part of the playoffs, right Like I think his mid range games still, um, it wasn't great tonight, but he got a lot at the rim, so I thought that was fine. But if he's not comfortable shooting him in the mid range, like, I don't think he's gonna go and bomb threes, Like, I just

don't think that's how it works for him. He's gonna build inside out kind of thing, hit those ompers, get his rhythm going, and then from there kind of bringing out to three. But you're right, if he's playing next to Drummonds facing five, he has to take those for sure. Yeah, I agree. And then the last thing I had on my list that we can touch on and then we can if you have anything else, and then we can

get to some guests. But I you know, th HD I thought at a sloppy, sloppy game, defensively, but I think we should give all the Lakers a pass and that or I should say we should collectively blame all the Lakers, not um uh, you know, not single anybody out. But on the offensive end, I really liked what THHD did off the ball. And you know, there I was listening to the Laker film podcasts yesterday or possibly the

day before. They were kind of bouncing some ideas off about, you know, how th HD is an on ball player and how he's most comfortable when the ball is in his hands. And while I do agree with that, I actually think he's a good off ball option because he is capable of making more complex catd attacking closeouts in a more complicated way, like you know the k cps

of this roster, the Wesley Matthews types of guys. They can knock down an open shot, they can pump, baken, sidestep, and if the guy blows by and take a shot, they can put the ball on the floor once or twice and maybe kick it out to a shooter or get all the way to the rim. But like PhD has the ability too, after he's attacked the clothes out to make a counter move or secondary move and he can make the more complicated passes out of those closeouts. And I thought today it was a great example of

th h t being awesome off the ball. Um He knocked down a couple of open threes in the first half and in the second half off of kickouts from Lebron, which is going to be the most important thing if he wants to try to play, just because of the way spacing is gonna work. But then he also had a bunch of these really nice clothes out attacks where he got into the lane and either either created something at the rim that led to an offensive rebound put back or drop off to Montrez and lane for a dunk.

That kind of stuff, I think. Is it the the ability to really make a team pay for being sloppy on their clothesouts. I think is a is a is a huge asset, and you know, I still think those

minutes have to go to to t a two caruso. However, if he can figure out that defensive end and he can be that successful off ball, I think that is a better option than McLamore and possibly in a shrunken rotation, a better option than Wesley Matthews, depending on the matchup, So I think there is an opportunity for him to play. If he's gonna play like this, It's just about being consistent. It's about being dependable. It can't be something that he's you know, sloppy one night and then has it all

together the next. He has to be a veteran in that regard. So I think I think I've changed for a little bit from being no way he should play two. This might work if he if he's a little bit more work persistent. Yeah, I thought he looked awesome next to the starters, right, and then you could tell like all those like ball handling duties that he had that they had to do when Lebron and Trudeau route, they

kind of paid dividends. Like he looks like he's grown up as likes a playmaker, like a player, right, not as many crazy turnovers anymore. Like he's driving with some like purpose. He gets the rim to try to finance. He had a really nice finish and transition that I just thought was special, Like he got to the rim um, went through contact, flipped it up the reverse on the other side. Just skills that like a lot of dudes

just don't have. I don't I just don't want him playing next to like because he played in that lineup with like Ben macklemore um. And then also I think Treads was the five there, right, and he had Kuzuma at the four. Just a really small lineup, really bad defensive lineup in total, right, so you can put him next to like two and three other defenders, like, it's just not really gonna gonna go well. But I thought he looked awesome next to the to the starting lineup.

He he hit his threes really confidently, right, like he catches you really in inconfidence. And yeah, I thought he looked he looked good tonight, like he looks like he's grown up. Like I don't know if those those dividends are going to play off in the playoffs. Was if

you'll get those minutes. I still think like you said, I think Cruzi will get those get that time or West Matthews maybe a lot more shrewder maybe, but he has the talent, Like like the ceiling raises if he's better, you know what I mean, Like it's there's a lower floor there because of his defense on off wall. But

I just think he had a really good game. It looked like that way his office shoulders like him playing next to Lebron was so cool because he doesn't have to like bring it up have the possession of the full time. He can kind of run off, runoff actions and attack attack already compromised defense exactly. That's the key. The when the defense has already compromised, a talented player

can make you pay. Like this is always the biggest problem with you know, Lebron's Calves teams is he would compromise the defense, but if it wasn't an open three, they just couldn't beat you in any sort of other action. And you know what makes k CP so good is how good he is not just a shooting but at attacking the closeouts to get to the rim. And having another guy like that like th HD on the floor,

it could work. And that's my big key there is I'm just I think this could work and it definitely bodes well for the future and what th h T looks like with an older Lebron and with you know, a d in the heart of his prime as just like this bona fide third option, who can you know, go on Dennis Shrewder esque spurts as a score but then kind of default into an off ball weapon and

then just be a dominant defensive player. And I you know, he's been a roller coaster for me this year personally, just you know, thinking about what his potential is and how he kind of fits into the timeline of this team. But he's so aheaded, he's so aheaded schedule from all of these quality reps that, like, I think there's really good reason to be optimistic that he can actually be an impactful playoff player at some point in this Lebron

in a D experience, which is pretty exciting. Yeah, And it looks like they trust him right Like he closed the game tonight, he was the first sub off the bench as well. Um, they trust him to play. And I think he's gonna get playoff minutes. Not like in the playoffs, every possession is it matters a lot more so you can't have these like defensive lapses. And I

think Vogel will will press the right buttons there. But he's definitely gonna play and his talent is there for sure, and it looks like he's he's like I said, he's growing up every single game. I think those those reps really did like are going to pay dividends here, like him be able to just be able to create, be able to make mistakes right. Usually you don't get that

on a championship team. You don't get guys who are twenty who are able to kind of play through mistakes, but just because of injuries and you know, bad luck with bad luck with injuries. He's he was able to do that and really build reps that he wasn't able to do last year. You got a couple of minutes in the playoffs last year as well. But this year it feels like a really nice, uh nice year for him, and I think he's gonna be He's gonna be a big time rotation guy in the playoffs if I I agree.

If not this year, then in the future. Um, did you have anything else you wanted to touch on before we get some guests up here? I? Uh no, I think that was all I had here. So, yeah, if you want to get your request in, we'll bring some people up and uh yeah, we'll get this coming. Yeah, we'll go for about we'll go for about thirty minutes. Guys, go to as many as we can get to. All right, let's start with I think Joe, Joe, what's going on, man, Hey, Joe,

can hear its? Tho? Hey, what's going on? Guys? Hey? I did not get to see the game. Um, I followed on Twitter. I had a question about Drummond and handling some of uh, Lebron's passes seemed like he wasn't really ready for them. Did you see any frustration from Lebron or just kinda know that it's gonna take some

time for those two to jail, thank y'all. Man, I thought it more or less looked the same as uh as it did with other players, in the sense that you know, when there's a lot of traffic around, if it's if it doesn't hit him squarely, and uh in

the hands, he has trouble handling things. But at the end of the day, like, I'm not gonna be too hyper critical of Lebron and a d pick and roll action this early, because you know the Drummond test to learn you know when when to expect it from Lebron, which is literally always and understand that that that he has to stay ready. And that's some of the stuff that Shrewder missed, some of the stuff that Crusoe and

THHD missed. Lebron is not gonna miss when things break open and and his anticipation will have to all he'll always have to be anticipating that kind of stuff. So I I I didn't think. I didn't necessarily notice anything problematic about that today, and I I don't think it's I don't think we have enough data yet to necessarily judge that. Yeah, that's only it's only drum in second game right with Lebron. I think today he'll get used to it, um, and but he'll get used to playing

with Lebron eventually. There were some places where I don't think he was expecting the ball at all. Right, Lebron dropped it to him. He's like when you made that past. So yeah, he'll get used to playing with him. And again there's like not that much space as Lebron is really threading the needle Drummond catches. They were like two people around and that's just not what he's good at right finishing there. So the buff of them will learn

each other's games. Thank you, Joy, I appreciate it. Thanks, you appreciate you. Man. Let's see my guy Tom, Tom, what's up man, what's up? Fellas? Thanks for having me? How are you doing today? Always pleasure. Guys, I wanted to ask y'all what you thought about Shrewder today definitely didn't have the legs missing short, But we got maybe two games max for the real playoffs start, and this

dude just came back from COVID. Maybe we maybe already had questions about whether he could defend in the playoffs to begin with. So I'm just curious about, like, do you think they might, you know, mess around with his rotation, you know, like kind of trim those minutes. What's the Sugger perspective in your guys minds appreciate Joe. So, first of all, I think that Dennis, if he was going to come off the bench in any capacity, it would have been in a game like today, you know, under

the circumstances. I think there's some sort of uh spoken agreement between him and the coaching staff that he expects to start. I think that's part of their pursuit of him in free agency and just part of of kind of his ego, which is fine, Like I get it, he's a pro, he's very good basketball player. He should

have an ego as far as defensively. The only thing that really concerns me with him is teams like the Clippers, teams that will attack and switches and shoot over the top, because the Lakers are good at forcing you to take difficult shots. But you know, guys like Caruso, guys like Shuder in particular against bigger scoring wings, I have a

vulnerability there. But I think the Lakers have an audible to go away from him in that case by going with lineups with more wet sin Kuzma and just more size on the wing where they can where they can make them shoot over a little bit more difficult of a contest. But you know, I thought he had some sloppiness today, Like you said, he was short on those jumpers. I think he has to be super aggressive on those threes. That's so important for the Lakers in their spacing. But

for me personally, he's been so good this year. He has he's he's built up so much equity with me personally that like, I can go with the bumps as he gets back into shape from this COVID thing and even just the general inconvenience that this COVID thing was for the team. He's just been so good this year that I think he's earned earned a reprieve from all of us, and I'm I'm kind of I I'm a big believer in what he brings to the team. Yeah, I felt like he was moving pretty well. I don't

know if you if he found that way as well. Talk. I thought he was looked. He looked like he moved well. He just his shots were kind of short. Um he had for aces. I expected like turnovers tonight, Like he was not going to be in a rhythm first game back, but I thought he'd like really made an impact. Still, his defense is gonna be there. I don't I think he's gonna start most of the game, but I still think they'll probably close maybe with Crusoe and a few matchups.

If that happens, like they'll just pick a different closing line up. I feel like he's gonna start most of the games on the playoffs. Did you see that as well, Tom, did you feel like it was at least moving well? I don't like, uh impacts of that for him? It was okay. It was probably better than I was expecting.

I guess like some of that like really fast first step, get to the rim, stuff, like just the big energy question, you know, not just having COVID, but like not playing in two weeks, you know, but I I I'm just curious because it wasn't the most perfect fit with Shooter bron A D. That starting lineup with Kassol was good

all year, right, it's good. But I'm just curious about kind of with the circumstance with the Lakers starting Crusoe during them putting it together with a D looking good on the defensive end, and Crusoe actually starting to play make and like make threes, you know, contribute on offense a little more. I'm just curious, like, maybe not start Crusoe, but if we see a quicker hook which from from shooters. So appreciate the inside Doug, guys, thanks to appreciate you see.

But Celio, are you there? Hey, how are you doing? Republic? Awesome? Man, that's far one of my honeymoon. Yeah, I'm not talking about I heard about the can today. But what do you think about this toast to my ship for the Lakers in the first round? Gets or sons? So, I mean they are now. Roger and I've talked about this in the past. I tend to think the Lakers are a better matchup for the Suns in terms of an

easier first round series. But I think that if you're ranking Western Conference upon it's that the team that they need to be most worried about as the Clippers, So anybody other than them, I think is the better option. Um The thing with Phoenix is, as we learned, they literally cannot guard Anthony Davis, So that just completely changes the geometry of the entire series, even without Lebron and and uh and Also, the Lakers are just so gifted

at defending guards. It's the strength of their team, um and and that's basically what Phoenix leans on for the most part, and their primary isolation player, Devin Booker, is of a more manageable size for the Laker guards to deal with and switches, so at least you know he's not going to be getting easy, easy, easy shots based on his physical tools, you know. I just I just think that that matchup makes more sense for the Lakers. But what's crazy is with with there's so many different

ways this could break out. The Lakers could play It looks like they could play Denver in the first round. They could play the Sons in the first round, like, it looks like it could be anything at this point. Yeah, it looks like it's not gonna be the Clippers though, right with the Clippers losing yesterday throwing the throwing that game against Houston, so um, it looks like what if

Denver throws tomorrow? Though, if Denver throws tomorrow against Portland, oh, and then they'd still be in the then we'll be in the plane. You're right, Yeah, So the Clippers effectively just does no matter what exactly. So we'll probably most likely play Denver or Phoenix. And to me, like, I think Phoenix is just we touched on it a lot.

I think that's an awesome matchup for US. I feel like we have the best guard kind of defenders in the league and those two that team kind of lives off its guards, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and then they have no matchup for Anthony Davis, let alone Lebron James whatever he's gonna do due to them as well. I think mckel bridges is a really good defender, but again, very little playoff experience, right for Phoenix, like he would get bullied by physical That's a that's a good team

to kind of go against. I'm higher on Utah, I think than a lot of people are. I think they're the second toughest behind the Clippers. Um, so to avoid Demosol would be good. So I think they'll be Phoenix would be a good matchup. Denver would probably be the one that we both want the most right out of that, out of that, out of all those teams, and it looks like they might play them at Denver Denver doesn't throw the game tomorrow against Portland. Lucy, thank you, man,

I appreciate it. A guy merged, what's going on? Merge, what's going on? Guys? Um, how you're doing today? Good? Well man? Good? Um. I had a couple of questions. I actually had a comment about the shrewter thing that Tom brought up, but it did seem Mike, he did have a bit quicker of a hook. Uh. She was coming in around the six and a half seven minute murder um not. I think shooter normally comes down a

little later in the first of the third quarter. UM. And I think she was playing the Cruiso role today since they're arresting Cruso, So I do think Cruiso we'll get a little more minutes with those starters, just because he didn't look really good in that role, and he just historically is very good with Lebron and a d um. The second thing is going away from the game with Kobe being inducted today in the Hall of Fame. Uh,

what is your guys favorite Coby moments? Um? Maybe not one that like a lot of people talk about, but maybe a little more underrated Kobe moment. Do you wanna go first? Go ahead? Okay, Well, I guess I can start with the start with the Kobe moment. I guess, uh, which is awesome shout out to Kobe getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. I think that's that's awesome. We'll be able to watch it. I think it's out around two thirty is the ceremony, So it would be nice

and nice to see that. My favorite Kobe moment. It's I guess everyone knows about this one, but I guess it's just the game seven kind of that. I think they were up. They were he was like he wasn't able to get a shot all night, and then I was like the fourth quarter he did a right right step triple pull up jumper put us up for and I knew the game was over. Um, teenage meat was I was really excited. So I think that was I think that's my favorite code moment, how about you, Jason.

So obviously I have lots of favorite Kobe moments, but my my personal favorite was his first game back after the Achilles. So, uh, if you guys remember at this point in time, like we've recently seen some guys come back from Achilles repairs and looked pretty good, So the Achilles injury has like a different vibe now, but back then, there wasn't really any example recently, and so I think

everybody kind of just assumed Kobe was done. And when when he came back, and if you guys remember he was wearing that they were wearing the black short sleeve jerseys, and he drove baseline and did a reverse dunk uh uh like kind of like like double pump reverse skunk on the other side of the rim, and it was, you know, the highlight of the night. And it was all this, uh, you know, a lot of crazy excitement

about it. But in that one moment, I remember thinking, like, this dude's really going to come back from his Achilles and still be Kobe, which is just crazy to even think about now. As it turned out, you know, he never really kind of materialized into anything but in that moment, like just because Kobe's Kobe, Like you just couldn't believe it that this old dude who had torn his achilles had somehow come back and was, you know, doing a double pump reverse dunk in a in an NBA game.

Like it's just you couldn't even fathom it. But like you just your your brain was always open to that sort of thing because it was Kobe. Um. But you know that. I think that's just one of obviously many many moments. Yeah, I like the eighties story as well. He said, like I think Kobe disliquated his shoulder or something like that, and he still went out and played and hit like a left hand jumper or something on the next positions like the hell man, people people don't

do that. So yeah, shout out, shout out Kobe going to the Hall of Fame. I guess merge or second you're at the point was like the th I think he said Tsu was the first sub Is that right? Yeah?

I said that the Tsu was kind of playing the Crusoe role today and he came in for shooter around like the seven minute market and that's normally uh shooter normally comes out around like the five for minute market normally, So I don't know if that was just a product of him coming back today or if it was sort of what we can see moving forward with you know, Crusoe coming around that seven minute mark and him playing

more minutes with that starting unit. Yeah, I feel like I feel like that was more shooters just they're they're being careful with his minutes, right, That's what I thought it was coming out really early. And also he didn't close the game either, so I thought he would have closed tonight because I thought he played well in that second half. He was really aggressive. I thought he got more comfortable. Um, his speaking role passes got better, he was finding Harold and even a D on those roles.

I thought he was He looked good. So I feel like that was more just a product of him trying to get back, get his conditioning back, um, And I thought that was why. And t HD also played well, so correct to him. But I just thought that's why he came out so early. About you, J, did you see that same thing? Yeah, I agree, I don't think I don't think it was associated with a quick hook

so to speak. I think it was just them managing his return from from covid M. I, like I said, the only scenario where I see him really being displaced from his normal rotation uh a minute is going to be against the team that's attacking him and switches, because everywhere else in the game he kinda fulfills his purpose. Like he's not a great spot up three point shooter, but he's gonna knock down enough of them that you

have to guard him. And on the defensive end, against anybody other than a really quick or other than a really big wing, he's great. He's great at the point of attack. He's a great ball pressure player. He's a great defender to have just to make them struggle to get into their offense, maybe initiating things that you know, twelve the teen seconds instead of nineteen seconds. And there's a ton of value he brings everywhere else on the floor. And you know the other thing too, is you know

Roj you've hit on this several times. You know Lebron. Uh They're gonna be a lot of teams, especially the Clippers, are gonna ball pressure Lebron all game long, uh in in in an attempt to just wear him down. And I think having that release valve of shrewder to bring the ball up the floor is so valuable, and you know, it's not as shaky as it is with a th h T or Caruso where you're worried about turnovers or then making some mistakes. Like Shooter, you can depend on

to do to fulfill that role. So I still think as far as the rotation goes, he's gonna be there unless he's getting attacked by a bigger win consistently and switches, So I expect him to be, you know, in all of their key lineups. First, appreciate you appreciate image. M hmm, all right, see Pedro are you there? Yeah? What's up? Many? How are you guys doing? Let me man, I'm just anxis been looking at the standings all weekend long, So let's have we got a chance to get that six

seed at least? Yeah, it's in it's in play. Um My guest, if I had to guess, would be that the Nuggets would throw that game tomorrow because that would allow them to avoid the Lakers in the first round. If I'm not mistaken. If Denver wins tomorrow, they're effectively signing up to play the Lakers. In the first round. So I'm my guess is that Denver will, like kind

of you know, subtenly tank that game tomorrow. Let Portland get six, they'll take five or four because they'd rather play Dallas, and then you'd end up with Dallas and Denver and you'd end up with the Clippers and Blazers and then the Lakers in the plan. That's my guest. But we'll see what happens. Yeah, I just I don't think Denver will we'll throw the game. I just don't feel like that's something I do. But we'll see. I guess it'd be great to avoid that play playing we

already avoided. That's what we wanted, most of the fans wanted, I think, to avoid the Clippers at least until that Western Conference finals or even the second round. However, that however, that however, that goes. But yeah, we can get to get out of play and the six he played Denver. I think that's a win, and there's a chance tomorrow. I don't think. I don't see Denver throwing the game, but but we'll see. That would be the very best

case scenario. Like if you could have told us, well when Shrewder went down with COVID, and when Lebron was like never mind, I'm not back yet, and when a d was looking like a shell of himself, which was the low point of the Laker season. You know, a couple of weeks ago, if you would have told us, then don't worry, You'll be playing Dallas or Denver in the first round six seed, no playing blah blah blah. Every Laker fan would have signed up for that a heartbeat,

because it was looking the leak at that point. So I would say that, uh, if if Denver wins tomorrow, that would be your best case scenario for the Lakers. Can I find s about Denver? Just that, Like, if I'm Denver, and tell me if I'm crazy, right, I don't expect to win the title this year based on for our injuries. I say, win the game, play the Lakers and get xp against them, see him again, fight him again, like let's go. I know that's crazy, maybe,

but like, is it so crazy just throwing it out there? No? I like it. And then if you're gonna lose, you'd rather lose to like the Lakers than draw, Yeah, because then you're like too. It was Lebron and a d well like we might have lost with Jamal, you know, like that you could look at it different. For sure.

I saw like Terry Stotts is I think the Portland coach, Um, he had this quote, and I feel like a lot of other kind of coaches probably believe the sentiments like you're kind of messing with, um the basketball gods as they sail on like room in podcast or just with Karmen all those things kind of like losing a game to avoid a team, right, you're just kind of just messing with like bad do do bad energy. I feel like like I just feel like most teams, um, I don't.

I don't see them throwing the game like the Clippers did yesterday. So I just don't. I just don't see that happening. It could be you can throw a game in a lot of ways. Yeah, that's like you can throw a game, like the Lakers throw games just when they don't when they don't, I'm not deliberately throw games, but there are games when they come out and they're just like like we're not gonna play tonight, like like

the Clippers game like last week. I mean that it makes sense just deliberately like avoiding a I'm a playoff opponent. I guess feels a little different, right, Like you're kind of just choosing who you'd rather kind of play in that situation. I just think it's a little different there. I don't see them throwing the game. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they just sit your kids M p J tomorrow and just they go crazy. Let me simplify it here, because I agree with you that it's it's playing with

the basketball gods. I agree with you. Yeah, let's just put it this way. I think Denver without Murray is a better team in Portland's. But I think Portland's gonna win tomorrow, no other details. That's what I expect that could happen. Yeah, yeah, that's fair because I mean i'd be very touch tough matchup for them anyway because about Murray. M hmm, exactly. Yeah, joke, it goes off, you know, m VP mode or something. But very much, thank you, Pedro,

appreciate it. Let's see. I think, yeah, well it's quite on many. Oh, how's it going? Y and man um, I was just reflecting on like the crazy week Lakers have had. Like I remember the moment, you know, like getting the Clippers game when a d turned his ankle on that board, and like just the lowness that made me feel like I I at that moment, I just

didn't think, you know, we could repeat. Like I've been watching Lebron, Like I'm I'm mainly just a Lebron James fan, I'll be honest, but like I've been watching him since, like you know, and like just like every most of the seasons he has besides last year, like there's always a low point in the regular season, just like remind myself, like they always he always finds a way to come back from that, you know, and like make it to

the finals unless he's injured. So like, especially after watching performance today, the way he flew on that alley, Like I'm pretty confident about the playoffs, you know, Like I think as long as we're no no injuries happen until then, I think I think we can basically book a final strip. Like I know that sounds cocky, but like the Clippers scared me a little bit, but like, as long as

we're good, I think we beat everybody. So I just like I know it's kind of ultra positive, but it's just like kind of I'm feeling up here today it's good to see the Lakers line up fully healthy well for starters. We uh, we value your optimism. This is this has been a season where optimism has been needed. UM. I do think it's very important to delineate between a normal Lebron apathetic regular season in this one because, to be frank like, we've never seen in his career this

type of circumstance. Um. That doesn't mean I'm not optimistic because I think I think, like Roger and I have talked about a lot on this podcast, we aren't as concerned about his athleticism as we are with a D, and a D looks so great physically and Lebron looks good enough physically that I think there is a reason to be optimistic. UM. I just don't think this was apathy.

This was this was Lebron the dude who is probably the best player in the world, like suffered a contact ankle injury that held him out for what was the out of thirty games. So this was this was a real significant issue. UM, and I think it's it appears to be something that they can survive. I would say

that I'm probably less optimistic than you. UM. I think I think that I think that they're in for a war, uh and against the Clippers, and I think that, uh that they'll probably get pushed a little bit in one of these early rounds when they're sloppy and a little bit out of shape and lacking continuity. Um, But I do I do think that I think that we're I think this play our Friends gonna look very different than last year. In my opinion. I think it's gonna be

a lot of long series, that's my guess. Yeah, I mean I could see this, I could see the same thing. Um, he he looked good tonight, but like I thought he was moving. Well. This is why I want to get out of the playing game though, because I just don't want Lebron to have to like just go crazy in one game. Right you have to ramp it all up right away, get into a series, be able to like you know, set down kind of read a team, um

and attack him the way he wants to. I mean, he loses game ones to get losing game once a lot, but but still like I just like that he's able to go into a go into a team and kind of play them instead of have to go through this this playing kind of stuff. So if you can go through that get away from the Clippers, and the West is good. Man, there's no bad teams in the West, like Denver being I say this a lot, Denver being the prize of the West kind of shows how good

the West is. Right, the team is still freaking good. MPJ is really good. Yo Kich is the m v P most likely, Like that's a really freaking good team and that's a team where we're aiming for to play. Like, just think about that in terms of the West, the top of the West. Right, you can't a Portland or any of those teams. But still that makes it's gonna be a tough, tough, tough road. But Lebron and a

D are healthy. Like, my only thing is with the chemistry thing shrewder A D and Lebron played there twenty fifth game tonight, which against just with nothing in a full season. That's not only concern. But those two are healthy. You should be able to get out those rounds. Maybe it's the longer series a D Lebron ramping up. Maybe those series are longer, but if they can just be in rhythm going to like the Clipper series, um, I

think I'll feel fine. I think You're right. I don't think it's gonna be a hot cake walk to the finals. Though this is a really good league. Forget West is a good league this year is a lot of really good teams on both sides of the conference. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I was a little disrespectful with how confident I was, Like I definitely respect like the Nuggets a lot.

Like I just like, you know, the Murray loss is obviously that's like I would maybe have them as the favorites in the West, like with US if Murray didn't get hurt, but like when he got hurt, I just kind of wrote them off. And like, I guess that's kind of maybe a bit of a mistake because Michael Porter Jr. Is like ascended in that time. But UM, as long as I think we need to play the Clippers in the UM Conference finals, which is why tomorrow will be an interesting interesting thing, like to see if

UM they tank the thunder game. I guess it'll be pretty hard to do. But you know, they did loose to the Rockets, so maybe if they ended up in that fourth spot, which I think they will try to do, then we don't play them. If we get the seven UM until the conference finals. So you know, obviously tomorrow is a big up locations on that and that will be pretty interesting to see. But yeah, I guess they shouldn't be so disrespectful. I think I think if we

play the Clippers it will go like seven games. I just think, you know, I trust in Lebron Nadi to pull that out. Have you have good reason to that. He's exactly the last ten times. So it's not exactly it's exactly every every playoff he's been in, you know, less decade went to the finals. So an interesting wrinkle will be road games in Denver to start the postseason off of you know, right, Lebron not quite being in

shape and Shrewder not quite being ape. Again. I like the matchups in that series, so I think the Lakers would do fine. But that's an interesting thing to keep an eye on. Is like falling into a hole against Denver because you're out of shape playing at elevation against a team that's in really good shape and in a really good rhythm. But I still like their chances. They're Another thing that's really nice about avoiding the play in

is the playing tournament runs all week. It's Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, which means that I'm assuming the first round isn't going

to start until Saturday, possibly Sunday. Uh for the Lakers with with what that means is that you know, by by winning tomorrow, and if Denver manages to beat Portland's, you buy lebron in another five days to rest that ankle, and you buy Anthony Davis five days to rest that growing and you buy Dennis Shrewder five days to get his lungs back and work on his his uh, getting his polish back, and and it just it just there's

a whole list of benefits that come from that. Not to mention they would, I believe, in that timeline, face the Clippers in the conference finals. Yep, and we can practice, right, they get some practices in exactly that one's practice this year. So get some practices in, get that week off, get out of that play, and don't play the Clippers. I think that's a win. We would have took that, Like I said, all all day long. Yeah, I think we're

all Nuggets fans tomorrow for sure. So hopefully Kid goes off. We'll see though, Dad, same don't matter, That don't matter, I agree, I agree, but I think there's something with Jason saying about elevation, especially for Shrewder, like coming off COVID like you Obviously, I'm very confident Shuder. I'm very hot on Shrewder. But he did look a little um, you know, out of shape today, so hopefully hopefully he can get that week to rest. But I I do

agree with Tom. Also, they don't matter like see Sons Lakers in five six maybe you know, so we'll see. So Jovan reported the dentists after the game while y'all were on here said he did not have COVID, So okay, I don't know what I was he out fourteen days then no idea crazy gez. So that would be interesting to see because I I do I do understand that exposure changes your timeline based on the type of exposure.

So it's possible that his health and Safety protocol timeline was extended because he had like a great deal of exposure. Scott it or something, yeah, something something along those lines. But I mean, who knows this stuff. They've all been so secretive about it the whole time, and Shrewder didn't do himself any favors with that. Germany interview No, he did that. Oh, I missed the Germany interview. I saw him. I saw him on Grant that thought a while we

were playing the Clippers. So that was that was pretty funny. Yeah, then it helped be there. I guess it didn't. It definitely didn't. He definitely doesn't know like he definitely doesn't do the right thing always. But you know, I love him as a player though, I really do. Why should I appreciate you little? Appreciate you, guys. I love listening to the space after the games. You guys, do you guys have a great one? Thank you? All right, let's see I think we have two more here, George. What's

going on? Man? Can you guys hear me? What's up? Guys? Good to be back. I missed Tuesday, Spaces, but I want to talk about a few things. I want to get to the Clippers thing last, because I think they're playing with fire with what they did. But with the the offensive droughts. Do you think that's concerning because we've had it with Lebron and a d now obviously without them, but I felt like that was justified or is that just the lack of spacing, which will probably figure itself

out come postseason. I literally just think it's the lack of spacing. I think, and Roger and I talked about this extensively at the beginning of the podcast. You can see the more detailed version of that when we released the pod. But to make a long story shortly, you can get away with your a minute the five when you're playing a Pacers defense that's missing some of their

guys that's not really engaged on that end. But at the end of the game, when they kind of started paying attention to detail and taking away the easy stuff, all of a sudden, your primary decision maker, Lebron is

settling for jumpers because there's just nothing there. And I think I think at the end of the day, the Lakers will find when they get into the later rounds against the team like the Clippers or against the team you know, like Utah Phoenix, that they're going to actually really have to uh go away from Drummond at the five just for the sake of of stopping the stagnation in their offense. Oh yeah, um, I agree with that.

I was gonna I was gonna tweet out actually during the game, like this is the first game with no scoring drought you know, spectrum and then like in the last three minutes they just decided not to score. They really bogged down. No ball movement, spacing was killed and all that stuff. So I'm not really worried about it again, Like I don't worry about the offense of a Lebron in a D S team in my opinion, it's just

getting them, getting them going. Um. I think those droughts will get even less as we get Lebron healthier, Dennis Shrewder back in the lineup. Are just our offensive creators back, right, Like I feel like a lot of those droughts were because we just had no shot creation on the floor. We just we haven't given the ball thd the whole time. Alex Caruso wearing those actions. That's where a lot of

the droughts we're kind of coming from. Um. I just feel like now with the with all our ball handlers kind of back all at once, which is funny all of them coming back at once, But with them back, I feel like the droughts will be will be a little bit less as as we go on here that they should get good looks. They have enough shooters to make to make shots. We'll just we'll see if it if it happens in the playoffs, but I just don't think it will. And this tonight was a nice offensive

game to see. I have all have the whole team pretty much going and and yeah, like it sucks that it happened at the most important time of the game. Uh, it would have been nice to just get like a little fifteen point win. But nothing, nothing comes easy here. It's important to remember that the defense slipped in that

moment as well. A lot of times over the last two years the Lakers have had games like that where they stagnated at the end and in a most blew a lead, and a lot of the focuses on the offense. And don't get me wrong, we as we've discussed with the spacing, that's part of it. But a lot of times those leads are shrinking in large part because the Lakers have completely mailed in the defensive end. And you can get away with a lot offensively, just as the Lakers,

it's been their identity. You can get away with a lot offensively if you're doing your job on the other end, and and that's usually where it slips. So but it's almost uniquely against opponents they don't respect, which wildly enough has happened to the Lakers even in the postseason. Um, you know, look at Game five of the NBA Finals, or you know the game three, like Game three against Denver, like this is all part of of their their identity. They you know, they kind of click flick that switch

on and off. Um. But the good news is is they are number one in defense, so they tend to leave it on more than they leave it off. So you could you could be worse. Yeah, I mean, I felt like the offense is really good through three quarters and then all of a sudden, Bromenade are trying to do pick and rolls. I called it euroball a little bit because every time they came down they did it and there was no movement, and Drummond was always in the dunker spot and it was just like the same thing,

a turnover, a bad shot. But uh, I'm not as concerned there. It'll it'll solve solve itself out, like you said. But with the Clippers, now, I felt like, you know, I'm not I don't want to speak as like a Clipper fan, but I felt like if they thought their best chance to beat us was in the first round if we were compromised, and then after that, I feel like they could have made a deep run because I feel like their only threat is US, and then they tanked the game out and now they won't see US

until second or conference final. So I felt it was weird. I thought their best chance to beat US was the first round. So I'm I'll take it. I'm not mad with it. I just felt it was weird. The tricky thing there's Kauai is a healthy So I used to think the same thing, Like if I was the Clippers,

I don't want to see the Lakers early. But they're dealing with their own issues of roster flux um, so I think that's what they're worried about, right, And then that's a little point on that going to US going drought. I think a lot of that. Also. I think they were trying to run the clock out, right, if I remember correctly, I think they were just trying to run the clock out um with that lead, and that kind

of led to those those bad shots. But but yeah, with the Clippers, there's a lot of pressure on them this season, right, Like they can't go out the first round, like they just they can't, like that's that's that's like an apocalyptic for them. So I think they would have to try to get as far as they can at least the Western Commence finals for them, So I kind of I guess I kind of understand it. I just don't like it in terms of, like, you know, respecting

the basketball gods and all that stuff. But but yeah, I feel like that's the good reason for them to kind of avoid us. They obviously feel I guess they would feel the same way where they're kind of big matchup and yeah they can't go out in the first round or something like that. That's just that can't happen for them. So I kind of I understand it from like a logical logical to you. I feel like the second least team they would want to see is Dallas Again.

I know Luca was kind of punking him last year. I know it went six, but it it'd be interesting. Their best matchup is definitely Portland's. I feel like that would be a quick series, but I found it interesting. So yeah, we'll have to see Yep, this is going to be the most intriguing playoff that will have in a long time. Yeah, A lot of good teams, all right, Thank you guys once again. Thank yeah, no bad teams

in the West. Let's see, I think we have one more left, all right, let's do it one more and what's fun on man? Hey, just one quick thing. I had a question about you guys talking about rotations earlier. Do you guys not find it weird that Ben McLamore doesn't play like the majority of like of his minutes without like he plays them without Lebron. I found that very interesting with Bobil man, That's something I've been complaining

about NonStop. It drives me nuts. Like it's like the dude has a super specific skill that has always melded really well with Lebron, and they just don't take advantage of it. Um. Instead, you're playing him in a situation where he's not getting the same high quality looks that he would get otherwise. And uh and and it helps because he's a little bit of a space case defensively, it helps to have like a really good communicating defender behind him to help him be in the right spots.

And that's another part where you know having Lebron would help. Yeah, I agree with that. Um. I feel like, again he's a specialist, like he's getting a lot of minutes right now. Still, I feel like he's game more than he'll get in the playoffs. I think more of that will go because Vogel he's gonna go with defense, right I think he's a defensive coach when when he's when he gets the choice to big offense versus defense, and he'll pick defense

pretty much every time. So I feel like in the playoffs, Maltimore will be more uh specified, and I think he'll get more minutes next to Lebron. He played a lot with that, he's playing a lot with like th ht and even shorter tonight. Um and and like you said, Jason, he wasn't as aggressive as usually is for some reason. Um. But but we'll see hopefully he gets more next to more minutes next to Lebron in the in the playoffs,

where will be more specialized role. In my opinion, Yeah, it's just frustrating, but I just wanted to ask about it, see if you guys had any if you guys thought differently. Yeah, when it gets to the chess match of a playoff series, you are you know, the coaches are obsessing over film.

You know they've got you know, let's say they they're you know, game three just happened, and they're you know, you're down, you know, two games to one, or you're up two games to one, but you just lost the game, and you're looking at what's going on, what's what's hurting you. And when they start to see blatant signs of spacing problems from a th HT or let's say Carusoe goes cold, like, that's when you're gonna see them try to shoehorn some

mc lemore minutes in there. And then also just look at Lebron's minutes, man, Like I think he played low thirties today. Um let's see just real quick, but chances are he's gonna be up closer to forty in the playoffs. Lebron played twenty eight minutes today. Like it's hard to match up mcamore minutes with Lebron when he's playing half the game. Um so I think I think in general, in the postseason, when Lebron's playing forty minutes, I bet

you McLamore's minutes will almost almost exclusively mirror Lebron. YEP, yeah, man, we hope, I hope appreciate it. Man. Thank you all right, guys, thank you all so much for hanging out with Roger and I. We should I'm planning on doing one tomorrow. I'm sure Roger's as well, so we will see with a good of of whattation we're heading next week, whether it's playing or prepping for a first round series. Tomorrow's game is at six, so we'll be going live right around.

We really appreciate all of you for jumping on. I'm going to take this screen and put it into a podcast for those of you who missed the beginning. But as usual, Rose and I sincerely appreciate you guys and all your support, and we look forward to what should be a really fun playoff run. Ye appreciate everyone, thanks for hanging out. Enjoy