Episode 57: Lakers/Suns Game 3 Postgame Show

in the Eastern Conference. Used to do this to the Hawks, where like it would be the fourth quarter and they'd be up fifteen, and he'd get a switch onto like Paul Millsap and eat straight up, you know, dancing, Yeah, like turn his back away from Paul, dribble back and half corps like Wade, and it's like it's it's it's clearly like an attempt to, uh, you know, use body language to express that you don't necessarily have any sort of anxiety or fear or in the moment, right yeah,

And it's it's also not the first time that he's done that, and it's led the game to kind of degenerating a little bit. But at the end of the day, I do think there's a psychological effect to that. I think it leads to the team feeling confident and it's like for some of those young guys on that Phoenix bench to see, you know, Lebron kind of clowning them a little bit. I mean, I tend to think that that kind of stuff can have a little bit of an impact in the way that the psychology of the

series shifts. Yep. But like they kind of took their belief away, right, and that's the whole point of these kind of playoff games. You could see like teams starting to lose a little bit of that a little bit of that confidence right as the game went on. Um, you saw it last year a lot with like Portland

and Houston. Happened more in game three, but I saw it a little bit tonight when that lead kind of went up to like ten, twelve to like fifteen, Cameron Paint hit a bunch of like just like he's he's been hot from three. But other than that, I thought, I guess we'll get into it, um all the all the details and all that stuff. But Goodwin, Yeah, everybody,

welcome to he stated the Lakers post game spaces. Thank you guys so much for coming to hang out with Roger and I. We're gonna go for about forty five minutes tonight. Since we're since we're gonna be in a rhythm of of going just about every other night here hopefully for the next couple of months, we'll go talk about the game for a little bit and then get your requests in and we'll take some speakers to come on to either event or share an opinion or ask

any questions that you guys have. Um. I you know, obviously the theme of the last couple of games is primarily centered around a D and a D was amazing

again tonight, and we're gonna talk about him. Um, but I want to start with Lebron tonight because I thought the way that he controlled the game in the in the third quarter, right at the beginning, um, you know, going into the half, it's this complete, you know, ship show rock fight of a game neither team can score, and uh, just in the in the third quarter there and that first little you know, seven minutes shift that Lebron had had ten points, three rebounds, three assists and

just completely controlled the game on the on the offensive end of the floor. A couple that with the Laker defense, which we're gonna dive into in a few minutes. Um, I thought that was where the game swung and and just like that, a game that was hotly contested between two teams that seemed to be unrelatively even playing field suddenly shifted to a series that feels like so many Lebron playoffs series from the past, where it's like, oh, this dude's just way better than us and there's nothing

we can do about it. And he had some dunks in that stretch. He looks great physically. Uh, it was just kind of like the whole package kind of coming together, and I thought that that was a good reason to be excited and it was good to see that he could still do that. What do you think about Lebron tonight? Yeah, this was like a rock pipe, right, This was like too defensive, kind of going back and forth. Lakers missed

a bunch of open shots, but this was really intense. Um, this felt like a Western Conference final kind of game too, Like really top level teams to a two teams are playing real playoff intensity. And yeah, they won that third quarter by ten. That was like their biggest advantage. Every other quarter was tied pretty much one two points. Lebron came out aggressive, like this was a rock fight. In that first half, no one could score and he was

really aggressive, got the team going. I think he had like a quick six points I think to start the half um and you could see it's crazy watching just him kind of work his way through a game, right, Like you could tell he started the game started a little bit aggressive, but let other guys kind of do their thing. Gave the ball the shrewder, let him attack

and he was great. We'll discuss him later, but let him kind of attack off the dribble, attack and isolation, let him create, and then when it was time in that third quarter, he knew this was the time to kind of build the lead. Phoenix was taking a bunch of tough shots. They went cold. Lebron was pushing it in transition. Um he was coming off screen, roll a lot of screen rolls with Drummond Um getting a d

easy looks down low. He really controlled this game again with his mind, and you could see his body just get better and better as these games go on, right, you could see him get healthier as he's keep going, Like it looked like his ankle looked the best he did tonight. He took a lot of contact at the rim man. He was kind of flexing after dunks, and does the stuff that Lebron does when you know he's really being feeling well athletically, which is awesome to see

him just get to the basket. People talk a lot about him getting to the rim. He had a lot of shots at the rim tonight. He did take a few jumpers, but I thought he was aggressive, putting pressure on and putting pressure on all those guys trying to trying to defend Kaminski with that second unit. Um, he was great. It would look like a Lebron game. I'm never worried about Lebron, Like that's the guy that I

guess I don't worry about. Twenty one points, nine assists, six rebounds, thirty minutes, didn't have to do the playoff. Lebron to beat this team, which I think sells a lot. I think these are these are arguably the two best teams in the Western Conference, and Lebron was able to still get a comfortable win, putting up you know, his

below average for his standards, which I thought was really impressive. Yeah, I'm interested to see the film in the shop chart to look a little closer, because it just felt like after you know, there was that stat that went viral the other day of I think it was yesterday, of Lebron's you know, shot dispersion during the shot distribution, I

should say, is there is a better word? Uh, during his last several playoff runs, and he is coming off of a playoff run, you know, last fall, we're over sixty. I think it was something crazy like over six of his of his made field goals burned the paint and uh. And it was one of the better numbers of his career. And uh despite the fact that the Lakers, you know, I've always had spacing issues and uh. And then this year,

through the two games he was in the teens. I think it was like eighteen percent or something like that. Don't quote me on that, But the point is is, like I thought tonight, it was the first time he looked a little bit more like his old self in the sense that his shot distribution involved a lot more at the paint, in the paint and at the rim um.

I feel like, I feel like, inevitably, with his brain, even with him not necessarily being the same athlete he was, you know before the ankle, he he was gonna inevitably find ways to get the Phoenix defense to lean one way or another and find some cracks and get into the paint. And what's even crazier about that is the

role players still aren't really making shots. I mean, what what West West Matthews made a couple there at the end, and I know KU's made one early, but for them too, for them to be where they are right now, I think at one point you tweeted out they were like three for eight team from three to start the game like that to me has to just be I tweeted out today. That has to be terrifying for Phoenix fans is the fact that the Laker role players aren't going

because they're gonna get going there. These are guys, the guys the shots that the Laker role players are missing, our shots they made last postseason. You know, KCP is gonna make shots. Crusal made shots all season and can't hit the side of a barn right now, and and Kuzma is not making anything like these guys are gonna make shots. And when that happens, that's when that's what That's what's gonna end up potentially ending the series in

five is if the Laker role players wake up. Yeah, the the Lakers having the number one defense plus an engage will run an a D really makes up for a huge margin of error, right, Like if they're getting the three they shot percent from three tonight, I twated they took three three I think two threes and the third quarter like people just didn't want to shoot them.

Um and Phoenix shot eleven. Usually don't win games by fourteen when the other team, you know, hits four more threes and you shoots uh twelve percent at three for me, like you just you really don't do that, So that gives him a big margin prayer. I thought the defense was was really big time tonight and a D just

being aggressive. We can kind of move on to him sixteen fourteen three throes tonight after sixteen in game two, I think like that's the biggest barometer for him to show his aggression getting to the rim, putting putting his shoulder right into the chests of DeAndre and not letting him, you know, take rest on defense like I thought he was huge. Um, he's his jumper still isn't there to where it needs to be hit a few mid range jumpers. I'm not sure. I think he maybe won three tonight,

but eleven boards. I think he had a whole bunch of offensive rebounds, a whole bunch of tips like this kind of aggression. It's crazy if you go watch game one and you watch this game, you think these are two totally different players. Like it's just just a totally difference in a not just aggression, but just his want to to play better. He's he's a superstar and he needs to play like it every night. And with the Lakers not shooting, well, I'm sure it will. I mean

we hope coming Home would do that. It hasn't, but it's good process, right, These shots are open, like you have to take those, and they eventually some of them went in West Matthews, Like you said, hit big. I thought game changing shots took the lead from like ten to fifteen, and I thought that really put a stamp on this game. Um, what do you see from a

D D tonight? Well? I thought it was so funny how you said it, Like, like the only thing I could think of all night too, was like, man, this looks so different than the guy we saw in game one, because you know, I think we all just assumed, like, oh, A D would be a little bit more physically aggressive, but he's gonna you know, his jump shots eventually gonna get going. That's that's just the way we assume A D is gonna finally wake up. Well, his jump shots

still isn't working at all. And he was just he was the most physically aggressive player on the floor tonight, Like he just is an absolute bull in a China shop around the rim. And I think, I think, I think I tweeted I had he had six offensive rebounds. Every time the Lakers uh shot anything uh at the rim, it felt like A D was in the mix even if he didn't get the offensive rebound, which again adds to the physical wear and tear that you put on

the other team. Um. I saw something the other day, I think this morning that the Lakers have been rebounding about their own misses so far in this series, which just a stupid number, right, and Drummon is at like some crazy number by himself exactly, so a D. You know, I I have so much appreciation for the fact that A D kind of uh you know, understood that he his impact on the game doesn't strictly come with him

making these jump shots. And you know, once again, we talked a lot about how the Laker defensive ceiling, which is not the same as their consistent defensive effort. Their defensive effort comes from Frank Vogel, that comes from all the guards working their butts off, and that's the night in and night out effort and focus stuff. But their defensive ceiling, the thing that allows them to hold the

Phoenix Suns the twelve points in a quarter. The thing that allows them to take the second best team in the league this year and just manhandle them the way they did is Lebron and a D both peaking defensively within that unit, and I think we saw that tonight. I thought they did a much much better job of just making that pick and roll just a slog. Aton was never rolling free to the rim, he was rolling

into bodies, he was getting chucked there. Everyone was just physical at every single point of the defense, and I felt like it just stifled everything Phoenix was doing. I was just part of it, was Frank and in the scheming, but like I just was so impressed with the Lakers just coming out and just physically shutting down Phoenix. The final score is not going to do with justice to how good the defense was tonight. No, at won't. I just want to give the exact stas so Anthony Davis tonight.

Six offensive rebounds, like that's my biggest brom to for him. Him and free throws, six offensive rebounds, four team free throws. You can't ask for more than that, eleven for two and again he missed a lot of jumpers that he made in the playoffs last year. I think those will eventually go down. But that's the key for him, like

being aggressive. They shouldn't be able to stop him on the board like they're playing eight and as the only big man, like he should be able to dominate, especially if Andre Drummond is there and they have to box him out too. He had three offensive rebounds tonight, both a d and Drummond plus eleven plus twelve. Um, they were the They were the biggest part of it for

me and their defense man. Like you hold Phoenix to basically under a hundred for three straight games in the playoffs, like that's even I know Chris Paul is not percent himself now. I thought he played a much better game tonight. Um, I thought Chris Paul looked as good as he could off his injury. But still you hold a team like this that's a really hot shooting team, um that that can get really hot from three. They kind of took away the three pointer for them for most of the night.

You hold them to under a hundred for three straight games. That's winning basketball. Let's playoff basketball. That's how these games go. These To me, this is a playoff Western Conference final type of game. I thought we saw that intensity um, I guess going into like the defense, so eighton again kind of went off right he was he was eleven for fifteen tonight, but he was a minus four team. What did you see on my thoughts on it? But what did you see like what they did with eighton

um to like? Was he kind of just part of the defensive scheme to let him get open? Or do do you think that the Lakers kind of have to still try to solve him in these next couple of games. He was leaving for fifteen to night. He was the only one I believe on the team other than Tory Craig that shot above. So do you think he's a guy that they have to look at in these next teams? So and not necessarily and and this is gonna be this is gonna sound confusing, but I think I think

you'll understand what I'm trying to say. I I think that the Eton lay ups and dunks at the rim were like the residual of all of the other attempts to shut down the action earlier, and essentially, like in many cases they're they're pick and roll was blown up before it ever even got to Eton. But in the few occasions where it broke down, it would result in

an eight and layup. And usually if you remember what the way it would work is, you know, they would they would throw a past the eighton and one of the Laker guards who would rotate would just barely miss it. Eighton would catch, and then a d or whoever it was Kuzma on that last second rotation would come over and try to block him, but they just wouldn't be

in time. And for the record, Eton is he's so big and he's got good hands that like he's he's just gonna finish any anything that he gets around there. But just in general, like I don't think that, like like you said, with the plus minus, I think the better way to measure it, and it'll be something we'll have to look at on Synergy or just on the

NBA dot Com. A status website is just how many points they got per pick and roll possession rather rather than how many points DeAndre Eton got because my personal kind of like feel for it was like the few times it worked, it resulted in an eight and Dunker layup, but it wasn't working really, you know that I was kind of my read on it. Yeah, I agree with you. I feel like they're okay with kind of giving that up, right, They're kind of trusting their bigs to get back on that.

So they really want to take away Booker and Chris Paul coming off those screens and then take away those corner shooters Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jake Crowder and you know, we saw Lebron. You know, Lebron when he's engaged is just an absurd help defender as well. He got a lot of passes taking the away his brain works on that end of the floor as well, and then a d right next to him. Um. I thought they did a great job with them. I feel like that's part

of the game plan. Like I feel like they'll live with DeAndre and kind of trying to catch it, kind of hold it and trying to finish over their guys. Um he was finishing over like Lebron more tonight, right, rather than just some guards and feel like it was Lebron down there more. He still want to leven from fifteen um. I thought a lot of his baskets kind of came off offensive rebounding too, and four offensive rebounds tonight. I thought he got a lot of book backs. But

I thought they did a nice job. And I don't think he was the dominant force that he was um in both those Phoenix games. I didn't think his impact was as good as it was, and they kind of forced Devin Booker and Chris Paul to like go to him in those late kind of situations and say, Okay, if you want to go to him, go to him. We'll live with that take away threes um. I think Phoenix only got up with like threes um tonight, which I think is low for them, So they kind of

ran him off the line. So yeah, I agree with you. I think that's part of this team. Let him kind of go off Chris Paul and minus twenty tonight. I guess it looked better on the floor there, but I guess you can kind of keep going. Um. Dennis Shrewder like I have him him in my notes, he was huge again what a playoff performer like. He had a tough game one. What did you see from Dennis Shrewder tonight?

Um in this one? Man? Everything? I mean he he had a couple of threes, remember correctly, and then just it just was like, you know, when when he came back from COVID, he looked just out of shape. His touch was off. Everything he was was coming up short, and that was kind of to be expected. You and I kind of had had hinted that that was what

we expected. But we always talked about how we even though he didn't look good, we always talked about the fact that we we counted on him for later matchups, like up against a team like the Clippers or or the Nets as a guy who could attack switches. Well, he's the crazy part is he's in many cases he's just attacking his matchup. Ironically, DeAndre and this kind of almost solved his little quick dribble scoop shot because he blocked it a couple of times tonight, so he started

to start the time it a little bit better. Um. But but he's anybody gets on him, you know, whether it's Chris, whether it's Devin Booker, you know, whether it's you know, mcail bridges are one of the wings. He just he's getting to the rim and putting pressure on the rim, and and tonight it was him finishing. But inevitably that's going to be something that Phoenix is gonna have to scheme for and it's gonna open things up

for for the rest of the team. And you know, I I think that we expected to need him more later on in this playoff run, but he's been extremely important in this series. And one of the problems is is that Phoenix really hasn't you know, they exposed him in Game one, I thought at the point of attack and pick and roll. But in Game two and three they haven't really been able to expose him and pick

and roll. And some of that's him fighting harder over the screens, and a lot of that is just the other four defenders doing a better job of of rotating and chucking eight and so he can't just run free

to the rim and all that stuff. But I mean, I I can't say enough good about him, and I thought he made some of the biggest players there down the stretch while while the Lakers once again pulled you know, the thing that they've done so many times over the last two years, which is build a sizeable lead at the end of a playoff game, a regular season game, and then just start bullshitting their way through the final six minutes and uh and thankfully, when when those wheels

started to come up, Dennis was the one who stepped up and was like, all right, I've had enough of this, and you know, made a jumper and made a lay up and had an a one as well, like you just you know, just an unbelievable game from him, back to back unbelievable games from him. Yeah, I was worried kind of what would translate, right, Like, I knew he was good. He was great in the regular season. I

thought he had a great playoffs last year. I was worried about his decision making in the playoffs, and I thought we kind of saw that in Game one. I thought he had a lot more turnover. Is a lot of really wild plays, but his competitive and competitiveness matching that with Chris Paul, who tried to kind of get in and get in his head right, trying to do

all his little tricks. Chris Paul is a super veteran that has every trick and under his sleeve, and I thought Shrewter matched that, like he wasn't trying to go toe to toe him toe to toe with him with like tricks, but like we're just matching. His energy is competitiveness, and I think you need to do that in the playoffs. And just like on the floor, like his ball handling

and his ability to get to the rim. It's just something like this Liquer team just didn't have last year other than Rajon Rondo who did it in spurts, And we discussed this a lot, but like just him being able to attack the basket when there's nothing going, like when a d is kind of just holding in, Lebron is at the corner of the wing, doesn't want to attack this possession. Give it the Shrewder go right at

his matchup. Doesn't even need a screen sometime, just go right at Devin Booker to be able to draw a foul, draw contact, get to the line, which I think is huge for him. He had eight free throws tonight that second behind um Anthony Davis. Like that's eight free throws for at the guard position. It's just something we haven't had. He's still only one for four from three, none of the teams really shooting well. But I thought he was huge. He had a bunch of huge dumball passes, four assists.

Game to the rim had three turnovers, but I thought they were I didn't think they were too bad. I thought they were just they had the right idea in the flow of the game, aggressive turnovers, right, And I thought he was I thought he was really good. He's had two straight really good playoff games. I'm I'm really impressed with him. Um So, I guess the only thing I had. The other thing I had written down here was just those shots not going in? Do you see

them kind of going in in game four? Like? What do you see from that? Do you see there's anything they could do? Is just just open Like these are NBA players, they have to hit their open looks. So I think that they're inevitably going to go in. And for a couple of different reason is one, we've seen the Lakers go through stretches like this where they don't shoot the ball well and then they inevitably snap out

of it. And then two, and this is probably the most important part because they're doing everything else, which is again something you and I have preached ad nauseum over the last two years is you know what, KCP, if you make shots, great, but what we really need you to do is guard. You know, that's the primary thing. And they've all done that, and as a result, they're

up to one in the series. And to be honest, since basically halftime of basically in the last two games, the Lakers have never really been threatened, um, you know, with the biggest threat being that crazy run they went on at the end of Game two, which Lebron pretty much immediately rested back control of. So from that standpoint, like there's less pressure. This isn't the Clippers, you know, this isn't we're down two oh in the series. We're in Dallas. If I missed this shot, I'm going to

be the lead story on I Disputed tomorrow. You know, Like, what this is is a team that is winning and everything else is going a d looks great, Lebron looks great. The only thing that's not really working is the jump shots. And so because of that, they're still winning and that relieves the pressure. You know, the Lakers don't have to hit shots in Game four to win. They just need to defend the way they did tonight, and so that

that will relieve some of that pressure. And I think, you know, this is the biggest thing that that I uh was thinking about in that second half. This series is just a knockdown, drag out fight. And the Sons you could tell they're still they're so sick of us, like they're like they're they're hard boarding the screw these guys mode, you know, like they hate they hate us. And Jay Crowd is sick of it, He's sick of Lebron. Devin Booker is literally so sick of it he's shoving guys.

You know. Chris Paul inevitably when he gets back into this series is going to be a physical, uh nightmare to deal with the Sun's. This is gonna be two games here, if the Lakers pull it out in five, that are going to be extremely physical. That could have some dirty plays. And and for the record, KCP already has a pretty bad by contusion and bad enough to get him out of the game. And Dennis Shrewder turned his ankle over a little bit there in the third quarter.

So you know, they have two days off here, they don't play again until Sunday. This this is a great opportunity in this next five days to close this series out and put their arguably the toughest opponent they'll play in the West. If the Clippers lose, arguably this team, this team is you. You have been preaching this NonStop over the last week. The Suns are good. Really, You've had to temper my expectations a bit because I underestimated them a bit and so of how good they are.

If you can get him out of here in five and not lose too much physical wear and tear, things are gonna I'm not gonna say get easier, but they're gonna be like this could arguably be the hardest task that they have, you know, this unpolished version of the Lakers beating the second best team in the league by record. Yeah, I've been saying I think Phoenix is good. I think

they're still really good. I'm not sure where they had just from here, but just going out to your physicality point there, I want to give Andre Drummond some love, like it felt like before this series, and I guess rightfully so a little bit just with his up and down play, it was kind of like, let's just survive the first five minutes or you know after the Game one loss, all right, don't start him, don't start him, Let's get someone else. And again he can be really

scapegoaded a lot. I thought he's been. He was great again tonight, like the second straight game. Um. I think his ability to kind of be in the defensive stance coming off those screens, getting hands in passing lanes, being able to get back to eton like, be able to deflect some of those not let all of those go through, some of them are going to ge through, but just getting his hands in passing lanes. And again three more offensive rebounds tonight. Um, I think his physicality is how

to has an impact in this series. Um twelve rebounds in Game two, eleven rebounds. Tonight, Again he had one huge block. I was not expecting that was that on Devin Booker. Yeah, I was in the first quarter, little left hand Yeah yeah yeah. So again I thought that was again part of what they were trying to do, you know, not let Devin Booker get easy ones, allow everyone else to kind of get going, even if Chris

Paul wants to kind of create fantastic Um. I like that they've tied his minutes to Lebron right, so he's not playing with like uh not that shooter is not a good good shot creator, but he's playing with the best shot creator on the team, so he doesn't have to wait. There's no there's not really any Drummond post ups as there were before. I think there were a few, but very little now you I don't really notice them throughout the game. So, um, he's playing with Lebron, playing

with the shot creator that's finding him. Lebron finds these angles that I just don't see. Um, he gets he gets the ball to him down low. Drummond still misses some easy ones, but I again just credit to him. Just another really good game. I think his physicality is sending the tone um and it's a it's trouble for them. It's allowing Anthony Davis to come in and crash the board. Cale Kuzma had a bunch of utimates and remounts tonight because of Drummond as well. They have to go box

him out. I just wanted to give him an ode.

I thought he was good again. You hit the most important part there, which is like, you know, he has been scapegoaded, but the reason why he escape coded is because he was having issues on both ends and early on, and in the last two games he's been unbelievably good defensively, which at that point it's like, who cares if he fumbles the ball out of bounds a few times or misses a few layups around the rim, which, by the way, as our friend Alex Regular pointed out today, he's been

finishing really well around the rim with the Lakers, especially as of late, and so the things are kind of coming together for him offensively in a way that they weren't early on. And a lot of that is it being tied to Lebron, which we we we figured might solve some of those problems, but none of that matters as long as he's defending, Like I think k c P said, a pretty good series, aside from the fact

that he can't make a shot. But but it's because he has arguably one of the toughest jobs on the team, chasing around Devin Booker, and he's done. He's done a good job of taking that responsibility, especially in the last couple of games. And so, you know, again, Drummond, the bar is low there. He's a he's a veteran minimum signing at the center position. You know, on a team that doesn't necessarily need him, and and he just needed

to hold his own on the defensive end. And I think he's been excellent on the defensive end in the last couple of games, and that I agree with you, Like he deserves his flowers, because that dude has taken way too much a lot from me, you know, like it was really frustrating for me to watch him, you know, kind of float around defensively, not really knowing where to stand, constantly turning his head, not seeing man in ball, just getting lost. Uh, and then all so hurting the team

on the offensive end as a spacer and as a finisher. Well, now he solved a huge chunk of that with with what he's been doing defensively, and that makes everything else so much easier to deal with, right, And I guess the final kind of adjustment that was, well, it wasn't made tonight. It was made in game two. But we saw it again. No Mantres Harold again, right, No Mantresnasol is fully in the rotation. He's not just in the rotation, he's closing, which like brings a tear to my eyes,

and almost every lake up to her eyes. Just it gives a d the chance to be the five down low and the ball just looks like it flies around even if he's hitting. I think he hit one three tonight. Just that threat of him out there. Um, to see Gasol back in the rotation again. I don't think Tres needs to go DMP the whole playoffs. I don't think that's gonna happen. But just seeing Gasol, it's nice to see Vogel kind of make the adjustment that we wanted

to see. Um. Even though Treads had an okay game one, I thought he was getting killed defensively and we saw that Gasol was Again. I think he did his job on eight and like you gotta beat a couple of times, had a few weird blocking fouls at the rim, but it was good to see him. Good to him in the rotation. He got your guy Ben macklamore in there. Um, you could tell, yeah, he's thinking about the shooting right, just might as well. Ben maclamore always takes the shot

that's like the least open right he called it. He's like, oh, let me just go up, which just doesn't get him in any rhythm. Um. And again, defensively, he's still kind of lost like I didn't. No, yeah, you're right, you're right, play with he did not play with Lebron, but yeah, that's probably not the best way. He's Ben mclore. But they needed shooting man, No hit a shot, and I think bog would just was like can I get three points out? Have been? But yeah, it was cool to

just kind of see the rotation is really tightened. No th HD tonight either, right, I think it was what we kind of expected. Um, he had a really tough two games in Phoenix, so so good to see the rotation. Titan Man, did you have kind of anything else from tonight? Um? I thought Marcusol was awesome in pick and roll defense in a way that yeah, it wasn't in game two. I thought, uh, just and so much of that is the whole unit, like so much of it is a again, but you know, uh, the guys from like A Film

Room talked a lot about this after Game two. But one of the big reasons that Marcusol was having issues and pick and roll in the second half of Game two was the ball handler cutting across his face so instead of like snaking the pick and roll is what they call it, but essentially just switching directions on him. It's it's basically a crossover after the screen, and Marcusol just was having trouble anticipating that and just was a

step slow. And I thought, I thought several occasions in the second half in particular, he just because again, like Marcusol, it's the same issue that you see with a lot of older players, Like this guy used to be the defensive player of the year. He's got all of that in him. Uh, he's got all the experience. It's just his body that has been failing him. And uh, and the truth is is like you can make up for

a lot of that by being savvy. And I thought tonight he was much better at anticipating, uh that type of movement out of the pick and roll, was much more capable of staying in front and actually protecting the rim, and and that just, you know, again made it so that all the stuff he brings offensively was that much more valuable because he wasn't hurting you on the other

end of the floor. But ye, Mark, Mark was fantastic. Yeah, and we're going on here around forty minutes, So if anyone's kind of jump in, I'll add you in at you in here. But yeah, I was just looking at Aton's line here. Um, he only had one free though tonight, and I think, like that's just not enough offense, right if they're just feeding him even though he shot Levin for fifteen, but he's not getting to the line, not putting any actual pressure on the guys, Like I think

they'll live with that. He went and living for fifteen and they only scored ninety five points. Um, that's just that's the scheme they're gonna go with. Um. I guess my only other thing is like Phoenix, the only adjustment really, I guess is Devin Booker and Chris Paul to kind of fire away, right. I expect to see that. But when you go into that game four, most teams, you have your adjustment, then you have the adjustment adjustment, and now it's just who's the better team. But we'll let's

we'll get some people up here. I guess we gotta be requested. While you're bringing somebody up, go ahead and add the first person the What has been interesting to keep an eye on is, you know, Monty Williams has talked about this, Um, you know the way that the Suns are interpreting this is that it's a fistfight. And and the problem is is is I think they're going to respond to tonight by just upping their physicality even

more on Sunday. And so again, it's just gonna be important that the Lakers kind of maintain that edge because I think this is a classic series where the Sons are the Sun's. No, they can't out skill the Lakers. The Suns, No, they can't out defend the Lakers, but they might try to kick their ass, you know, for lack of a better term, um, just by using using Jay Crowder, using Chris Paul, using Devin Booker, just to be super physical everywhere. Anyway, Let's get someone on yep

a j Can you hear us? Yeah? I can hear ye. Yeah, you know. It's it's uh, it's funny, man. It was like the Lakers played like asked the first half, Bro, it was just you know, it was almost like they were going through the motions. Lebron was kind of pasting himself, and second half it just switched. Lebron just kind of went like, Okay, get out of my way, Let's let

me take over this game. And it's almost like the Son's new at that point like, Okay, we're out matched, Like there's nothing we can do at this point, like you know, and that's why I think. You know, once you get in Devin Booker's head, he gets real sassy, and he gets real piste off and he does dumb ship like pushing people in the back, you know what I'm saying. So it's like that's what they I feel like they've been needing to do this whole you know, from game one, two and three is just get up

on them. And I think putting in West Matthews was the perfect thing to do because I mean he was the only one to me that was consistent all night on defense. You know, his shots were his shots were going in I mean massive, you know what I'm saying. Like he he changed the whole outlook of what that lineup looked like. And you know, I think another positive thing is like who's is yet to still get going? K cps yet to still get going? And once that happens, I mean it's it's a wrap, it's a rap, you

know what I mean. I Mean, we know what we're going to get out of a D and Lebron, but our guys are still yet to really actually get going, so that that's actually something to look forward to. And I don't think Game four is going to be close, honestly, I really don't. Well, it'll be interesting to see because if they if the role players keep missing shots, it will certainly be contested to a certain extent. You know what you said, it was really interesting, like the first half,

you know, the Lakers weren't playing their best. Frank Vogel actually came out and said that wasn't like her basketball, at least on the offensive ent, and this is what he said. And then I agree in a lot of ways. The funny thing was, you know, like you said, in the third quarter, Lebron came over, came out and kind of took the game over. And in the first half he was plus no I'm when Lebron was on the floor, and I think the Lakers went in to half time

up three if I remember correctly. Um, But anyway, the point is is, like, you know, these games have all these different phases, right the first game was like the ship Show. For the first half was like the ship Show phase where neither team could score and it was super competitive, and and then obviously most of the fourth quarter was basically a house of highlights reel with like bloopers and and and and and fun stuff. But they're

in the third quarter. You know, in that first seven minute shift, Lebron came in and just stepped on their neck. And then the end of the third quarter, Anthony Davis just completely executed them, um with his physicality. And so it was a Lebron in a d execution in a twelve minute quarter. And I think of what did they hold the Suns to like twelve points in that quarter?

Like it just was it just again It's it's these decisive moments of the games where where you kind of put it all together and and it ends up swinging the outcome. And I thought that's what happened to night right right. And the crazy thing is, I mean, if you if you really watch the first half Lebron, I feel like he was just trying to get his guys going, because when he was driving in him he was really

just looking to pass. And I felt like, you know, watching that, it was like, okay, let's let's get everybody going and see what we can do, and didn't really work out that well. So second half he was just like okay, you know, let me let me take control of this game, and that's when everything switched. It's just it's it's honestly, it's incredible to watch how he can literally just take over a game. Yeah, I'm with you

on that. I feel like he took their belief right and at third quarter, I know that's more like an intangible kind of thing, but you can kind of see it. Um when he goes on those runs. Man, playoff Lebron. That's that stuff. It's really like he didn't have to tap into his full bag tonight, but when he turned it on, he got he got them up. He knew that was the time to kind of build the lead

from like ten or fifteen. He started attacking the rim, getting to the basket, getting hand ones, getting dunks as well. He could just see he was feeling feeling it might agree with you. There my favorite thing. Man. It's going around on Twitter right now, but he's literally has his back towards it, towards Crowder and he has a smile on his face like I'm about to cook this dude. I'm about to cook this man. It's incredible to watch. Man.

We joked earlier that that was like kind of like Lebron psychology, you know, just him him, you know, in a series tied at one in a fourth quarter against the two seed, you know, uh, in a series that after Game one the Lakers are only a minus one twenty favorite. And uh and in him my kind of toying with Jake Crowder like that, it just sends a psychological message to the opponent. And and and a lot of team there are teams that won't shrink from that.

And we'll see what happens with Phoenix. They very well my fight to the to the bitter end. But there's a there's a long, long laundry list of teams in the Eastern Conference that just simply folded when Lebron did that kind of stuff. And that's why he does it. It's a psychological warfare. Yeah, I agree, a you. We appreciate you, brother. I'm gonna trying to get a few more because we're gonna appreciate you. Man, Yes, sir, get my guy the pettious Laker fan. Yo, what guys? What's

going on? Man? Hew y'all doing? What's up? Are you there? Can you hear me? Okay? I can hear you? Yeah? Yeah? Can you hear me? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah, My man, I was saying, I love what you guys do. Man, I try to get getting here whenever. I just wanted to say, I just really appreciate that. Like, I don't know, I haven't been able to see the team put it all together in one game, and to an extent, we still did.

But I feel a lot more confident about this team after seeing them put it put it together on the defensive end. Fully, I feel like this game was like the first game. They were fully you know, firing on all cylinders for most of the game and then and then um offensively in the third quarter. It showed what the Lakers can do when Lebron's just decides, Hey, I'm

gonna put my head down against the basket. So um, I want to kind of what you guys thought about Lebron and and the I know you guys talked about playoff Lebron a little bit, But what did you guys see different than the third quarter versus like, you know, the first half. Well, I thought that was the first time since the Denver game before the Lebron and a d injuries in the second half of that game earlier

this year. Tonight was the first time since then that I've seen their defensive ceiling, because if you remember, that was when Denver had Yoka Jaanbury and everybody, and the Lakers just shut their water off and they couldn't do anything. And and you know, we talked a lot earlier in the pot about how you know that's their defensive ceiling,

which is different than their day to day effort. That's like when everyone's engaged in Lebron in an a D or on the floor, and what they can do on the back line defensively, how how it can take even super high end offenses and just make things extraordinarily difficult for them. And I, as as I've said for two years now with Raj, I think this Laker defense is an all time great defense. And when they flipped that switch,

it just flat out wins games. And I thought, I thought that was the driving force in combination with Lebron at the start of the third quarter and a D at the end of the third quarter doing what they did offensively, Lebron driving the basket and passing the ball, and then a D just as a as a physical uh, just mammoth around the paint, grabbing offensive rebounds and just beating the hell out of the Sun's physically. Yeah, I

agree with you, and just with the Lebron point. Like you could tell I said this earlier, but he's kind of pacing himself, right. This is when too, he's trying to get to win sixteen, right, and he knows even though for us like every game is like a you know, Game seven, need to put your heart out every every night. Um, you could tell he picks his spots in that third quarter, he really picked that. He picked his spots to go

to the rim. Miles Bridges couldn't couldn't handle him, Jake Crowd or all those dudes he spun Baseline a bunch of times, getting to the rim, getting dunks, doing stuff that he wasn't doing. And with the defense like this is this is a top level. I thought the Lakers last year had probably the best defense I've seen. Um this year, I think they can probably get get to that as well, maybe even a little better. I think

Jason believes a little better. But um that when those when those dudes are engaged, Lebron and a d to me are still the best off ball defensive players in the league. And when you have your guards mixed with that, like it's a tough thing to score on. Phoenix is a good offensive team. I'm not sure where they finished. I think they finished top five or something offensively, I have to check with that, but to hold them under

a hundred is is huge. So I agree with you on that that third quarter and that defense looks legitimate and ready to go. Dude. That last thing I want to say before I get out of here, and I appreciate you that's having me on is on that same point,

I love. I wish that Frank Vogel got his flowers more because I think, um, a lot of people thought he was an all time great defensive line even before it before even coming to the Lakers, but he hadn't really had anything to kind of show for it as far as like in the highest level stide from those you know Pacers series that really you know, took Lebron

to the limit. But I'm really hoping that like in the next you know, from his um stint here at the Lakers, and also like that that marriage between him and a D, those things that he could do with a D is just like amazing. So I really hope that he gets the flowers and the appreciation that you guys are giving them too. I'm with you, man, I think I think he doesn't get enough. He gets some. He has some lineups that drive us crazy right to

the regular season. These experimental the Dramma minutes kind of drove us crazy the Rondo minutes last year. But I think these are all the means to an end. I think they have an idea of what they're trying to do, even if we all kind of disagree with it at times. Um, there's a means to an end here and and we'll see if it continues. But he just definitely deserves some credit for what's going on here. Getting a number one defense without Lebron and a d for pretty much halfter

season is is no joke. Yeah, the guy that the guy to uh to listen to a little bit more detailed excess and those version of this is that Tim Cranes.

That Cranze just Cranze, just mack basketball. He does an awesome job of kind of mapping this stuff out from what I saw it live, and I'll try to look more when we were watching when we watched the film, but I really just thought the Lakers were much more physical off ball in that pick and roll, because, like it just seemed like that that two man game was so free flowing through the first two games, and there just was no contact around the rim as that stuff

was happening. And I thought the Lakers set a tone early that lasted throughout the game where they were just going to be more physical, and I thought that that was a big part of the way it shut it down. Um. But yeah, and then you're right, Frank deserves a ton of credit for being a part of that chess match. Alright, Yes, thank you, appreciating me, Thanks, thank you, We appreciate you. Thanks man. Let's try to get two more here. I

think we're running up on an hour. Sounds good, two more, okay, Basilio, are you there? Hey? What's up, my guys? How are you doing? I'm doing fine? All about you doing well? Well? What's going on? Hey? Oh good? Oh good? I have four thorts teams between the leap and one thing is the A D Snake crowd is really quiet right now. And there's the second thing, Booker, I think he dropped twenty four in the first game. Are you know that

juts Man boggle may for him to keep paying nineteen points? Yeah, they they definitely have the Biggs coming up higher on the stream, So like when Booker gets a screen, drumming

is kind of at the level of it. Instead of being back in like this help and recover, there's kind of no no, no Roman behind kind of coverage that let's Booker kind of get right into his jumpers and they've decided to get the ball his hands, so when he has an isolation at the top of the key, they'll send a double and it really makes him to take really tough shots over contests, and that's why you see his scoring output. It kind of go less and

less as these games go on. They're they're allowing eight and to catch the ball at the rim, and that's that when when Bookers passing to him, he's not taking shots and the shots he does get are are pretty tough or in transition do agree chasing, Yeah, it's it's all adjustments, Like you gotta you gotta think about it with respect to uh uh, what will work outside of

a one game sample. I mean, look at even beyond Booker, look at Cameron Payne, but he went off there at the end of the fourth quarter when the Lakers totally let their foot off the gas and let him get loose and transition and catch wide open, catches you threes. But the pick and roll stuff campaign was doing the stuff that he killed them with in game two was

all shut off. And the same goes for Booker. Booker in game one was just killing the Lakers, uh curling off of hin downs and and then in ball screens just getting to a shot too comfortably just inside the three point and and and the Lakers have just made a simple adjustment of just leading him at the screen.

Uh and and just being more physical in general. And as Are one of our previous colors pointed out, it's starting to really frustrate him and he's starting to lash out, which is good for the Lakers because that can kind of cause things to go off the rails and cause you to do something stupid like shovel player in mid air. Okay, And the last two things is are you a real concerned about the a D he said he punstands his knee.

And the last thing, Chris Paul has been your in the series, but Coming On Pain has kept the songs in in kind of rounds. He made some a couple of tree and I guess I think Coming On Pain has been really great this series, he's been he's been amazing. And look, if they have to go to Cameron Pain, I think you've done your job. Pretty much Like if he's gonna hit tough step factor, he's he got a few open ones, but he's driving to the rim kind of finishing these tough layups. I think you live with

those throughout the flow of the game. Um, he's had a great series. Credit to him getting himself back in the league. But like the game planning for him is tough when you already have Booker and Chris Paul, they and eight and you're trying to, you know, manage all these guys, and if campaign gets off on a few shots, I think you live with it. I think most of the shots are contested. Um, he's kind of he's been guarded by Caruso. I trust him to kind of make

that a tough matchup as a series goes on. But he's been great. I agree, he's hit tough shots. His speed has been a factor. He's getting by guys and he's hitting pull up reason transition. Just he's been amazing in this series. Credit to him. He's just in a groove too, man Like. I mean that that's kind of basketball in a nutshell too, Like sometimes some of this

is beyond XS and os. You know, there's there is a certain amount that you can control with XS and os and effort and focus and blah blah blah and all the stuff that Rogs and I talked about every day. But at the end of the day, like there's all things equal. You know, why is Alex Cruso, guy who you know, shot the lights out all year, incapable of making anything? And Cameron Payne who has had a good season but it's playing way above his capabilities in this series,

Like why is that the case? It's just because Alex Crusoe's not in the group right now, and and Cameron Payne is very much in a group right now. And all you can hope is that at various points in the in the postseason, certain Lakers will make runs, just like Markith Morris went on a crazy run last year's postseason, or you know, Rondo had his moments, or you'd have KCP in the finals. You know that there you just hope that guys will pop up and make their runs.

In this case, unfortunately for the Suns, campaign hasn't been enough. Um, but the Lakers You're gonna have Lakers role players to have their moments as well outside of what other teams can control. Yep, thanks, I appreciate you, man, Man, I appreciate it. I hit the last last one up here. I think it was, uh, big seven are you doing? Hey, hey,

what's going on? What's going on? Man? Not much? Pretty stoked we got the win tonight, even though we came out looking and it was really tough to watch that first half. I'm not gonna lie um with all the miss shots, wide open shots, you know. And I kind of liked how Um Frank brought in Ben Mapplemore for a little bit um before the before k CP went down. I think that, I mean, even just to try it

out for a little bit. I think it was nice and it kind of hits the way he were saying earlier with you know, he's actually trying new stuff verses in the regular season when everyone was getting all upset, you know, over him. Not I'm not trying new lineups. But you know, I think he's doing what he's supposed to do as a coach, and he's showing everyone like, hey, we won the finals last year and he is he is a champion. You know, as a coach, So I

think he knows what he's doing. And yeah, I think I think he's really underrated for how well we're playing right now. I think that uh, as Roger and I have said throughout the last two years, Frank Vogel deserves the benefit of the doubt. He has shown that when push comes to shop, you'll make the adjustments that are necessary, and all the stuff that we've talked about, like, think

of it like this. We preached for Caruso all year last year as the better player than Rondo and as the player needed more minutes and who started Game six of the finals. So you know, we preached dumping centers last year because you know, even Dwight and uh Um Javal weren't as good options as Drummond or Gasol. And guess what, he dumped the centers for the most part

in the postseason. So as far as I'm concerned, like we can, you know, express our concerns, but he deserves the benefit of the doubt because he's shown the willingness to make the necessary moves. Yeah, coach, coach. Coaching is hard, man Like, it's not easy, like Bogol was what coaching in Orlando and had a bad team and sometimes you just never know what happened. Look at I think Tyler is a really good coach, um, and you know they're down oh two and he's having trouble finding lineups even

with that same rondo. So it's tough. Man. Bogo deserves his credit. I think keeping keeping the defense where it was, it's just so impressive to me. Go watch, I mean, go watch these other teams. Man. Look go watch Denver Portland tonight. Yeah, I think it was like sixty. So just watching like him have a defensive kind of system that he's kept even with different personnel. Right, Drummonds different

than like Dwight Howard. His skills are different. Being able to adapt to that is is key to me and coaching. And he seems very transparent with his guys, and that's all you can ask from a coach. And when you have Lebron and a d that's kind of your job. Stay out the way and make sure you deal with everything else. Let the stars kind of take care of

what they do. I think the last thing I just have to say is I don't know when people will start to understand, like if you talk trash or Lebron like throughout the game campaign kind of you know, talking to him throughout the game, and it's like, what are you trying to do? Because when he came out that third quarter, it was you know, and I was listening to the halftime show with Charles you know, saying, oh, he's hurt. He he looks bad, he does not look good.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lebron saw that um and was like, okay, watch this, because he literally came out that second half and all those little you know, the rumors all he doesn't have that explosive jump. It's like he literally showed that way. He scored like six or ten. I don't know how many scored in a row right when that thing sorry, but you know, it's I don't know when people just get It's like the same thing with Kobe. You know, it's like if you're gonna be

poking at him, he's gonna get you. So, I mean, I don't know. It's it's funny to see it because it just keeps happening. So I don't think there's anything wrong with talking trash. I think you just gotta be prepared to face the consequences, like you know, for me personally that my time playing basketball, I've always been the kind of guy that like I'll talk when someone talks to me first, but I'll never started. But they're they're completely different guys out there that will start it all

the time. And you know, like I'm like, like, you know, Lebron kind of strikes me as that kind of guy, like the guy that isn't he's not out there actively seeking that kind of thing, but you know, inevitably there are guys that come his way with that type of deal. And like that's the thing like Crowder, Crowder got Crowder got into it with Lebron in the fourth quarter and you know, nobody cares what happened the rest of the game.

That highlight play on that spinoff is gonna end up being what leaves everything for the next twenty four hour news cycle. And it's like that's the price you pay. Like Patrick Beverley talked a bunch of trash to Luca, and what went viral is is Luca just spamming him into the basket and then him saying that he's yelling at too I think small and screaming into the Clipper bench like it's it's a dangerous game and if you play, if you play the game, you know, sometimes you win,

sometimes you lose. But I I personally don't see the advantage and starting that kind of thing. But they're they're players who do and I'm not going to tell them they're wrong, you know, I don't. I don't mind it. And like that. There's guy like Draymond Montraz Harrold even it looks like a little bit campaign. They live off it, right, like they that ship needs to be something on their shoulder, and they create it anyhow they can um and I don't mind if you can bet him back it up.

John Moran another guy really aggressive when he gets going, and I'm fine with it. It's a line there. You don't want to be dirty playing like you know, dirty pouls and stuff like that. But a little trash dog that's part of basketball around the world. I don't have a problem with. And Lebron is probably you're right, not the guy to do it too, but these guys do

it to everyone, so kind of how it works. Well, much love guys, Thank you, I appreciate you all right, everybody, thank you for hanging out with us for the last hour and some change. UM. We will be going live again on Sunday. I will be immediately taking the screen recording, converting it into a podcast and I will tweet it out and Rog will tweet it out as well. UM. As is always the case, we appreciate you guys choosing out with us UM to talk some Lakers and well

we'll see you on Sunday. Thanks everyone, ASTs