Episode 59: Lakers/Suns Game 5 Postgame Show

people get in here. We'll go for a little while and then kind of let people as well, um vent their frustrations. I'm sure there's a lot of people would like to kind of come up and I guess say their piece, um that. But there's a game coming up, So where would you where'd you want to take this? So, Okay, like I'm kind of with you, there's not a whole lot to take there. I had a hand full of things that I want to touch on, but there's not too much to take away from a game. When a

team quits the way that the Lakers did. Um. But I mean that there's no real way to sugarcoat well what happened out there that they they went into a

huge playoff game. Um, on the road. And I think one of the things you and I glossed over when we were prepping for this is we failed to account for the fact that a lot of these guys, you know, Alex Cruso, I mean, Dennis Shooter has had some playoff games that he's been a part of, but none that none that resembled this, like really high pressure games for a team that has expectations, and uh, Dennis hasn't really

been in a spot like that. You know, a lot of these guys were a little bit I thought shell shocked. A Drummond was another big one who was who was shell shocked. And and I think that, uh, they let go the rope. And and that's what happens when you let go of the rope on the road in front of you know, seventeen thousand ravenous fans and a young team. Um that's really riding that wave the way that the Suns were. But I'm with you, I don't want to

spend too much time talking about it. We'll hit on the few things that that we want to touch on, and then I think we should just get some of you guys, the fans up here to to vent a little bit and get some of your frustrations off off of your chest. Uh. I guess where I wanted to start, raj is in the first quarter, I thought that the Laker role players were obviously shook, and it manifested by

them not wanting to take open threes. And there was a specific play that I tweeted about were Lebron drove, worked, worked to a matchup that he liked, and then beat his man to the basket, drawed an extra defender, kind of jumped out of bounds, and just through a scoot pass to the corner to Shrewder and Shrewder home and didn't take the open shot, at which point the Lakers had to reset and they ran an action with with Drummond and Shrewder and he ended up missing a much

more difficult contest to Jumper. And remember sitting there thinking like, what's the point of having Lebron do all that work to draw all that attention if you don't want to shoot the ball? Um and then cuss first possession comes in wide open corner three doesn't take it, And I thought that was so bizarre, just the mentality of the team. What did you notice early in the game as far

as the Lakers and their approach from the start. Yeah, so, like I think they actually went up what like five nothing or seven nothing, right, I don't think Penix was kind of hitting shots early, and then Devin Booker kind of hit his first three, which kind of showed how the game was gonna go. Um. I thought he had a bunch of tough shots in the first you got a nice whistle, Um, he got a bunch of and ones. Um that really got him going and got the crowd going.

I thought the crowd was a huge part of this. Like it wasn't the reason the Lakers lost this game, but you can totally tell the difference between like this capacity and like what's going on in the stable center. But that's no excuse for these guys to be passing up shots. I thought Dennis Shrewder, Kyle Kuzma passing up those threes were just huge for the Sons. They just continue to pack the paint. People were telling Lebron to drive.

There were just no lanes, especially with Andre Drummond there. He got pulled early. So Frank Bogo went with Marcus saul Um and I think he put in Caruso as well for Shrewder. With in like six minutes and six quake minutes, and then Saw got attacked in ball stree in actions, which I thought they would, and Lakers just could not shoot Man Passol Gonna hit it three. Crusoe was also kind of passing some up. K cp Um still isn't himself, and that really just took the game off.

I thought Lebron would be a little bit more kind of aggressive to come out, but it just seemed like the whole team was kind of ready to just go to Game six, right like. I think that was that's

what the vibe felt like. And maybe Anthony Davis being like a game time decision kind of just really messed with I don't know, I don't know if that's the reasoning we're not in there, but just him kind of maybe about to play, and once he wasn't playing, it's like the whole team kind of just took a breath and I was like, Okay, game six it is, and and the whole team kind of felt like that. In that first quarter. It was just sad they had ten points I think like three minutes left in the first

Um just could not score. And then Devin Booker hitting those shots campaign came in and pretty much punked all our guards went straight to the rim um. I think you said it absolutely exactly, And that was the sad part to me. It's like the there's like a there's like a competitiveness that should show up when a guy is just taking you right off. The dribble campaign wasn't even getting screened. Sometimes it was just one on one um straight line drives, and that's really what killed us,

I thought early. And then the game was over and you're down in like the second half, in the second quarter, like six minutes left. W what do you? Where do you go from there? Um? So that's kind of how I saw this game started. It was it was a really poor effort, and you can't just concede games in

seven game series. They already conceded Game one. They talked about it and the games the absolutely run rag and that was what I said after Game one, like it's all fun and games to have a feelout game, but there is an anatomy to it. A seven game series, you have to beat them four times and things can go off the rails. You can have crazy shooting nights, you can have the opposite of a crazy shooting night. Someone can get hurt. You can have a night where

the crowd just carries you. And this is why you cannot trick off a game, because if you're up, if you're up three games to one and the a d injury happens, the entire belief surrounding the Sun's franchise is different than the way they were tonight. I would be willing to bet money that the Suns were talking to themselves today about how they were going to go out

there and kick their ass tonight because they believe. And I think that I think that there was a huge psychological advantage to to the way that the Suns were playing and and and it was it was just it was just so frustrating. And again you have to think that coming into this game that Frank Vogel was talking to them extensively about how they needed to be aggressive at the three point line and they just needed to make some shots. You have to think that was the

talking point. You have to think Lebron was telling him, I need you guys to shoot. I'm gonna be kicking it to you. I need you guys to shoot. And for them then to come out and to not be aggressive, you know, in all those different spots, and for the record, I want to they're a little bit of blame on

Lebron here. He had a couple of sloppy turnovers at the beginning, and you know, I think that you have to read the writing on the wall and you have to see, hey, these guys are all are completely shook. So maybe now is when I have to start firing away, even if I go ten for thirty. And he did that in the third quarter, but it was too late, and I don't know that any of it would have been enough tonight. Um. But at the end of the day, like you and I talked extensively, they just needed some

guys to make some shots to loosen things up. Because Lebron, if you when we watched the tape, it's gonna be insane. Lebron had no advantage to work with when he would get to his spots. It was it was Chris Paul was just completely ignoring Dennis Shudder. Wanted nothing to do with Dennis Shredder guarding him at the three point line, you know, like you hat eight and waiting under the basket. Mccale Bridge is just literally hunting passing lanes because nobody's

making any shots. You make two or three threes early in that game, it softens things up, and all of a sudden, the driving lanes do open up, and it's just it's that cascading effect that you and I always talked about kind of hit its zenith and in the worst way tonight, where all of a sudden, just the entire Laker offense bogged down in that second quarter and a lack of shooting became a problem. And then right on the other end, the Son's just continually confidently knocked

everything down. And I want to give them a ton of credit for for doing what the Lakers did not in that regard, right And there was a lot of like referee like talking about the referees, and I thought they also had a bunch of like struggling struggle calls tonight, But we talked about a lot they reward the physical team, right, Like that's what referees do. They were aboard the physical team,

and Phoenix was absolutely the more physical team. They were punking us down low, punkings on offensive rebounds, going right right at us at our chest, and they were going to get the calls. And I think Lebron tried when we're down like fifteen eighteen to go to the rim. Tried to put his head down and they were just staying off him, and you know, he thought he got fouled on a few of them. Looked like he might

have got hit in the face. But you know, when you're down eighteen twenty, you don't have any sympathy from the referees. Um, they weren't calling anything, and that he just couldn't go to the rim. So at that time all he can do was shoot. The jumper was off to start. I thought he started hitting later later in the third quarter, later in the fourth he started getting his jumper going. Maybe that would be good for a

game six. But they were flying under our screens. Man, They're just especially Dennis Shruder was pumped making right like he was pump aking to no one. No one was going for those. Um, he has no driving lanes as well. He's coming off those eight and is sitting in the paint. He's lost all confident. It's in his mid range jumper, his three ball. He was shooting as a super last resort. So it's just a lot of hens going against them, and maybe going home helps here again, we can hope

the three point shooting is still just got awful. I thought Wes Matthews hit a few tonight. I try to get it with them. You have to find some shooters, man uh Vogo went to the thht and Ben McLamore trying to just find, you know, some kind of spark. I think in the second quarter that just wasn't The other guards did deserve to play anymore because they had mentally checked out of the game direction exactly. So that's

kind of how the game went. Man. Like I wrote down Drummond's kind of defensive awareness, but again, all this stuff is so minute like it just doesn't matter if the effort isn't at a baseline level. Like I thought his awareness was really bad tonight. Um he was. He was just coming off screens. Devin Booker hit three threes in a row, and he's coming off worried about Kaminsky on the short roll, Like you let co Minsk kind of get that pass right, You've got to get up

on Devin Booker when he's steaming hot like that. I think Booker had like eighteen in the first quarter, and one of the last shots of the quarter there was a little a little screen with Kaminsky and Drummonds kind of sitting back and I'm like, you gotta be up on that. And again, those are things that matter on the core. Those are kind of the xs and os um. The game isn't played on spreadsheets and all that. But that's just the stuff that I saw kind of on

the floor that they need to clean up. But again, those things are so minor when you look at just the total effort and just getting out getting punked out of the out of the game in the first quarter, like you didn't even give yourself a chance in my opinion, Like this game was over five minutes in, which is

just unacceptable for a for a playoff game. And I mean, you know, I thought a lot about, you know, just kind of leaning back on what what Lebron must be thinking right now as someone who has been in so many different playoffs series in his career, and the one that came to mind for me was two thousand eighteen in the first round against Indiana, in particular, Game six, they go down to game six, they're up three games

to two. They barely squeak out Game five on the on the sequence where Lebron blocks Victor Oladipo at the him on one end and then makes the three to win the game on the other, so you basically barely

squeak out game five. They go on the road in game six to Indiana, same thing, completely raucous crowd, and it kind of reminded me of this game in a lot of ways because Victor Oladipo was just like Devin Booker, total coming out party in game six, like straight up missed a dunk on Lebron and then went right back at him like two possessions later and dunked on him, and crowd's going crazy, and you could tell the cas veterans were just like that will get him in game seven,

like they just totally just mentally checked out of the game and try game seven. Here's the problem here. I I do think the Lakers have a chance to win Game six. I think that there's even if a d doesn't come back. I think that there's I think that a team that gets pumped the way they did is going to respond in some manner. At home, the guys are it's an elimination game. The team that's back is against the wall always approaches an elimination game with a

certain amount of desperation. I think the Lakers might win Game six, but the bottom line is they have to come back here and win anyway. So they they don't have the luxury that the two eighteen Calves had in that they could fall back on on their on their home court advantage. This is not the case now. Now, you know, whatever slim chance there was to win the

series just became significantly slimmer. And and I thought that, uh, I thought that at the very least, you know, you just need to hang around and then maybe a Lebron you know, explosion can put you over the top. But just to just completely let the rope slip like that, I thought was so bizarre, right, And I feel like the difference only in the in the Indiana kind of series. They weren't. Were they like a seventh seed or like a sixth seed or something like that, I believe, Like

I don't think it was. I think it was a four or five. I mean, like harping on this point, Phoenix is legit. This is a legitimately really good team. Like we talked about a lot, this is probably the two best teams in the West most likely like this, this is a really good team. I just want to give them credit as well. The shooter. They know what to do, they don't make mistakes, they get back on the defense, they know exactly what they're running on offense,

they know what they're doing. They came with a game plan and executed it. I thought great tonight and also in the second half of Game four. So I just want to give them credit as well. And that's a difference here. You're you're you're playing with the team that's legitimately good, that can go all the way and my

my opinion, go all the way to the finals. Um, and a person like Chris Paul I think he got shaken up tonight, but he looks kind of back to himself, controlling the floor, kind of controlling where shots come from. And they're confident. Man, they're gonna go to l A and think they can win. And uh, I feel like the Lakers are kind of leaning on this Anthony Davis news and look at a d plays. He plays like I think he might play. He looks like he might play.

But um, I'm not sure if that will just be enough. There's a lot of basketball kind of concerns for me as well. Um, just on the floor, we saw Gasol kind of start I wrote that as well. Gasol started in the second half, maybe he starts, you know, game six, That could be an adjustment they do. But um, like the efforts got to be there. The crowd won't be like it is in Phoenix. Um, they've got to be able to play, create their own kind of energy and see if they can kind of pull this off and

move this to a game. I would have gone small for the record in terms of the marketing, like at a certain point, this isn't working, you know, with the Bigs, especially in pick and roll coverage. I think I think I would say they had one good game and pick and roll coverage, probably Game two, where they were so physical off the ball and jank things up. But the Suns,

like Booker, was getting easy shots against those coverages. And at what point do you just say, I'm putting you know, markis Morris at the five and I'm and I'm going down switching everything, making them isolate and giving Lebron as

much space is humanly possible to works with. I I'd like to see them try something because the the you know, we we knew coming into this series that one of the problems would be Phoenix car words in Laker pick and roll coverage, because all season long, they've done that stupid catchheads that I've complained about, which basically lets pull up jump shooters go off to the spot where the big man is not really he's not really up at the screen bothering things. But he's also not back shutting

down the rim either. He's just kind of in the middle and like no man's land, and and it has bothered me all season. But but yeah, I I think, like I I think at some point Frank's gotta reach deep down into the deck here and try something different, because I thought even in the that second quarter when the Lakers were trying to get something going, they just kept putting Marcus all In, Andre Drummond and screening actions and just getting whatever the hell they wanted. And and

Frank leaned heavily this. Rob Polinka and Frank have leaned heavily on this idea that we're just gonna be big and we're gonna pulverize everyone. Well, guess what, You're big guys are pull verizing them. If anything, we're getting poll verized, at least in the last two games. And uh, and so at what point is the trade off they're not worth it because you're trading off that physical presence for a lack of foot speed and for a lack of shooting,

although Marcosol has had his moments. But the point is is like that trade off, you're you're getting all the bad with none of the good right now, So at what point do you try something different and see if you can't unlock something to to try to swing this series. I'll be interested to see what they decided to do. Yeah, and I guess my last kind of point that we can kind of move to what we think for game six and then I'm let let some people come up here.

But uh, my only thing is that I feel like they overreacted a little bit to eight as well, Like I like their coverages in game one game too. They're holding him to points, kind of getting up on Booker and letting him kind of pass to eight and every time.

And you know that physicality you talked about, like dominating down low, that doesn't work without a D, right, Like that's the point of having Drummond in a D. We talked about it a lot, and lebron Um, all three, all three of those guys have to be engaged defensively for that to be a dominating force. And also Phoenix is running. Phoenix is running on his campaign, Devin Booker because of how we tacked the offensive glass. If we don't get the board, they're gone, and then our bigs

are steps slow eating his rim running. Um. A lot of things like that are going on. And again a D doesn't solve all these He definitely helps. He needs to be the help guy because other guys are just too small. And he said Marcus Marcus markis Morris at the five. I just don't think he can move lot

early enough to stay with the guards right now. He got beat off the dribble a lot tonight by Chris paul Um Devin Booker right to the rim, and I just don't think he's ready for that um to be the five and just to switch everything and uh and the spacing it should help, But if we're still not hitting at the rate, they're still just gonna pinch the paint right and just shrink the floor whenever Lebron has the ball, and it's basically gonna meet him trying to get in the post or try to do high screen

action with Markis Morris. And I think they'll they'll kind of live with that. But but moving on to like game six, what's what's your main kind of look for this? Is it a d kind of coming back or or any kind of adjustment you want to see after What do you want to see in game six? So I think it starts and ends with with their psychology and and and how they respond mentally to getting kind of smushed the way that they did today, um and made

to feel small. I mean, here's the reality of the situation. Anthony Davis coming back, Anthony Davis playing tonight wouldn't have solved enough problems to to win that game. They lost not because they lacked talent. They lost because of the fact that they didn't show up to the game mentally. And and so that's the way you got to look at it is like when you're getting beat that resoundingly, it's everything you're You're you're getting outplayed in every facet

of the game. The color commentator, I can't even remember it was at this point, but he kept pointing out the fact that the Suns were out working him, and that can't happen. You can't be the desperate team but also be the team that's getting out worked. And so I mean, we could talk about adjustments all day long. Uh you know about which lineups to you is whether or not you you try to favor shooting, whether or not you go away from centers. We can talk about

that all day long. But if the Lakers don't show up and fight on Thursday, They're gonna go home. And and and that's it's really that simple to me. And and you know what's upsetting about that is I feel like, you know, teams follow their leader psychologically, and I feel like Lebron really tried in that first quarter to try to get something going and it just wasn't there. They're the driving lanes weren't there. And then he he shot five quick jumpers, if you remember, and I think he

made one of them. He made the third, the three, And it's like that that that was what it was gonna be. You know, I was thinking a lot before the game, but you know, what would a bad Lebron game look like? And I thought it would be just miss jump shots and maybe some bad body language. But you can depend on him to do the other things right, Like Lebron is not gonna completely shrink away from an

up big game. You know, but he had some limitations in his ability to get into the paint that was magnified by the lack of spacing, and he tried to get it going with the jump shot early on. Like if he has that same third quarter jump shooting stretch but in the but in the first quarter, maybe it gives enough, you know, belief to the role players that they hang onto the rope and that and that's what

what you hope for. So Lebron, I think in game in game six, has to be extremely aggressive early and send the message to his team that you know, we're not letting go of the rope tonight. But but I mean, here's the thing. Guys don't make shots and guys don't take you know, do their job, it's not gonna work. Right. A lot of people are asking for like a forty five point gamer from Lebron tonight, right like they wanted him to kind of go off on his scoring get

plus assists. That just doesn't happen without guys hinting shots like they just have to or the Leakers are going home. Um and hopefully going home helps that, but I don't know how much it will. They're shooting something on open jumpers before tonight, I haven't looked at the numbers tonight.

They're probably even worse. Um, but those dudes have the gay shots, and uh, like Lebron has nothing else to say for like there's no game after game six, Like like tonight, he can kind of, you know, sell himself that there's another game a D come back when we hold it for that one, um, But there's nothing after game six, So we're gonna get the full Lebron. We're

gonna know whether or not he has that capability in him. Um. I think there's still there's still a gear there that he can go to, right, there's still gear where he can get to the rim um at a at a certain point where Phoenix um can't stop him even though they're packing the paint like crazy. But I think there's still another gear he can get to, another aggressiveness that

he can get to hopefully in game six. But guys have to hit their shots and they can't be scared, um, And I think they look at the film and realize that and hopefully a D can play Like That's the main thing. Like my main takeaway kind of from tonight was like we can't defend them kind of without a D like that was kind of the little lost c it in tonight as well. You just look at the floor man, and just the way where their defend. We're defending screen coverages like we need a D as the

help guy. We just don't know what we're doing off the ball without it. These lineups just have not played together. And it's kind of why I wanted to see Gasaw start, just to give Lebron that spacing early. Right, It felt like once once Kasaul came in, the crowd was already super into it. Booker was in a flow like it was just a game was over by that time. It felt like even though it was just we were down

like fifteen or something like that. So that's where I want to kind of see going into game six, Um, do you have anything else from today? Are going to gain six? Bring me the first person? You can bring the first person up. I think I think you made a really good point, like starting gas Saul in hopes of getting Lebron driving lanes early, Um might have been the smarter move, But I mean I hope it might be. It might be too late, you know that, that's the

hard part. Like Frank, Frank was slow with adjustments for the entirety of the last two years, you'd always do them, but he wait till the last uphole minute, and and I I would hope that he makes that adjustment for Game six, but man like, like, who knows, And at

this point it just might be too late. It's it's hard to even really, you know, bridge the gap mentally to figure out how the Lakers could win this series at this point, Like you have to somehow play ten times better in game six than you did tonight, and then you have to somehow go into Phoenix in game in game seven and get a win. I mean, Lebron

has done it before. They went down to Boston in Game five in two thousand and eighteen and got rolled, and then they they had a crazy game in game six, and then he went into Boston in Game seven and all of a sudden, those young Celtics players got really cold in the moment. But that team didn't have Chris Paul right, and that team wasn't as good as this Phoenix Suns team is. So it's like, like you said, it's just they have an enormous task ahead of them

at this point. And I you said, I think Lebron has this other gear to get to agree with you when he's healthy, and I'm not a hundred percent sure that he has that gear right now, and and I'm not sure that he will be able to tap into that in a way that he could have if you know, someone Hill didn't dive into his ankle. Well, let's see on a game state. Are you there? Yeah, I'm here, man, what's up Fellas? Hey? Um? Just yeah, man, just watching the game and yeah to him, I just think Braun

is this whole year. Man, it's just been so clunky and so it's just it's just been so different than last year with the cohesion and man, I just I mean, I'm not gonna give up on Bron, but man, that it's gonna be tough on on Thursday night. Man, we just need somebody to to step up. And the problem is, you know, when I thought a guy like Russo and it's just like man, who can step up? This team has not been able to exhibit any type of cohesion.

And I'm concerned that that the Laker is gonna go home. Man. So I hope not, but I'm just not feeling optimistic. You know, Roger and I are both Lakers optimists, you know, we really are, and I am still optimistic about the

future of this team. Um. I think that when you actually when we actually reflect on this season, and I'm sure Rog and I will do a special podcast after the season, you know, whether that's in July or or in a few days, we'll see, but I think we'll look back on it, and when we'll look back, we'll realize, you know a lot about how just how term, you know, how much turmoil there was this year. And I'm a big believer that Lebron is going to age gracefully and that he's going to be able to be a top

five player in his late thirties. I really believe that. I believe that Anthony Davis will figure out how to stay healthy. I feel like that's gonna be his number one goal this offseason. And I feel like Anthony Davis is gonna be great. I like t HD, I like I like Rob Polinka and what he what his plan is, and I like Frank Is the coach, and I like these role players. I'm a Lakers optimist, but this team isn't the Lakers right now. This is this is a

hurt Lebron. This is no A D. This is Dennis is completely getting out played by the backup point guards by the from the Phoenix Suns. This is Dennis, you know, did some stupid COVID stuff and and killed his rhythm and and lost two weeks right before the postseason, and god knows if he'll even be on the roster next year.

And this is every role player on the rock on the roster going completely stone cold from three and so all like, this is not what the Lakers we know for lack of a better term, So the optimism has to lie in what can you not what this is right now? And I don't even want to talk about you went into the off season a lot there. I don't even want to go into the off season yet. But when I look at like this season, I guess

just looking for the forest through the trees. It just feels like the championship was kind of the sacrifice UM for this season, right. A D was never himself this season, Like I just never thought he was. Um, I just never thought he got and then he kind of rhythm to be what he was last year even when we started twenty one and six. So that's kind of how I see this season and maybe that's how it ends. But there's still another game, Like, you're still alive, you

have Lebron James, there's still adjustments to be made. Um, whether you lose by one or lose by thirty, you only get one lost word in the playoffs, So we have another game left. So I don't I don't want to really go into all season stuff. Yeah, I still kind of want to kind of keep it on this this season, even how treasurers treasurers it kind of turned into. But yeah, that's kind of where I'm at here. I'm not sure by that is just that, like I I

think that you and I are off to this. Yeah, I think, And I was using the off season, we're really just the future of the team to say to say that we are optimists. I'm just saying I think you and I are both also realists and we acknowledge the reality of the situation right now. Appreciate you, Joe. We're gonna trying to get get some more people up here. A lot of people requested here, let's see, trying to go in some kind of order. Jordan, are you there? Looks like it, Hey, can you hear me? I can

hear you? What's going on? Many? Um? So obviously that was a pretty bad loss, real frustrating. Um, But I was just wondering, um, how how I don't know you guys probably answered this a little bit um before. But how confident are you guys now, like and and for games six and then for game seven. I'm fairly confident, um, But yeah, how confident are you guys if we can that we can tune this around. I'm on game six

mode right now, like game seven. It feels so far away, like that feels like, you know, like a bridge that I can't even see right now, Like Game six should be the focus, and I think we can win Game six one game. It's at home. You know, roll role players tend to shoot better at home. They're supposed to. These open shots are supposed to fall in like this sample that we've kind of created, although there's only one kind of game sample left, but you know, these open

shots should go if they take them confidently. And I think Lebron will have the team ready, um A D hopefully will play. That's where I'm at. It's a winnable game, like it just is home game there. It's gonna be a tough one, but I think it's winnable, and that's where I'm at with this. I'm not sure. The game seven feels like such a far cry away from me, Like I can't even can't think about it. How about you, Jason,

I'm with you. They can win Game six, that's certainly in the cards, and then from there anything can happen. In a Game seven with Lebron, So I would say that, you know, any other team, i'd probably say that it's not over, but that it's looking extremely bleak at this point. I would say that it's still bleak, but that the

Lakers certainly can win. It's just what you're asking them to do is you're asking them to win a game at home, which they absolutely can do, But then they have to go and do exactly the same environment as tonight into an even higher pressure game and they have to be fifty times better than they were tonight. You know. So that's that's where that's where it gets complicated. But you know, um, i'd like, like Roger said, it starts,

it starts with Thursday. Yeah, I mean, the odds are in our favor, right, Like those shots like they got to go down soon or later, right, So hopefully hopefully that song getting in game six. So yeah, but no, thanks for answering that. Thanks Jordan. We appreciate you coming on man there. Yeah, I was trying to get the next person up here. Thank you, Johny. I appreciate it. Nick. See if I can get multiple people and then kind of take turns. Have to wait. I guess while we're waiting,

what do you think about tread Oh? I guess Jay's Jake? Can you hear us? Yeah? What's going on? Man? Ah? It's tough, h Like I had how hope to this game. I really thought we like, if we didn't come out and with the knockout punting game one, we wasn't gonna win. In quarter one, we wasn't gonna win. And after that second quarter, I just turned the game because I knew it was going to game six. You can tell that

in the body, legs and everything. And Dennis, I'm so glad he turned down that extension because if we need to pay him, it would have been so mad like because it's it's to the point like if you're not you're not scoring, what do you want to call for? You just hurting the team? Oh for nine And in the game that we really needed going back to Staples. It's like it's sad, but I think we're gonna pull

it out in seven if a d comes back. But it's looking bleak, like you said, yeah, I just want to quickly like for Dennis, like like he hasn't played well and we need more from him. He had two awesome games though on Game two in game three, like we needed all his points in that we don't win game two or game three without him. So he had an awesome those two games. He was confident. I don't know what happened, and without a d R mark it for air and scoring is just so low, um that

we needed to kind of perform. But you're right, the body language was terrible, and Jason had talked about it. It It looked bleak right when they started. They didn't look like they believe. Devin book great. A few shots and it looked like that was it, Like they just packed it up. We're ready to go back um to l A. So that that was really disappointing. I agree with you

on that. I can't say it any better. I mean, we we talked for two days coming into this game that the role players need to make shots and that they need a lot from Bennett's and Dennis came out and gave you an over that's just really that's really tough. It's really tough to win like that. But at the end of the day, it's very clear that they packed it in and they're betting on game six and you know what, if they come out of this in seven games and it all works out, like maybe we'll look

back and laugh about this. But them willingly giving up game one and Game five of this series was so bizarre and and it's just it's just poor strategy when it comes to trying to win these playoffs series because they like Anthony Davis healthy version of him just completely no showed Game one of this series man in a game that the Lakers could have won, and like the the entire psychology and tenor of the series is different if the Lakers are up three games to one instead

of two two coming into this game. And and obviously, like every person on the roster deserves blame at certain points for the way the series has gone. Um Like I like, I was really hard on Lebron in Game four in the second half for letting go of a game that I thought he still could have stolen, but man like it just like that Dennis. Dennis was the big shiny you know, the scapegoat tonight. But everybody, everybody deserves a ton of blame. Yeah, I agree. Appreciate you, J.

We try to get through some more people here. Appreciate you coming up? Jack? Are you there? Yeah? Can you hear me? I can hear you. What's going on? Man? Well? I mean that was tough tonight, But I don't know. My question is is that So I've been a big defender of this year's roster in terms of, like, like on a talent level this year, but what's up with

this team's mentality compared to last year? Because I feel like even though last year's team was probably less talented on paper, they just had a completely different mentality to them game in and game out. And it's just been just driving me crazy this year watching this team. So I actually disagree with you a little bit in the sense that, um, you know, the best indicator of consistent effort in the regular season is defensive rating, and the

Lakers were number one. So the important thing we have to remember is that all thirty NBA teams in a seventy two or eighty two game season are going to mentally check in and out for various stretches, but go on in any game stretch where they kill everybody, and then they'll have a game where they don't try, or the two or three games where it doesn't look good. That's kind of just part of the deal in the NBA. UM, and as far as in the playoffs then you know,

letting go of a game with a poor effort. They did the same thing last year. I thought all all four of their losses, all five of their losses in last year's playoff run, I thought were a large part due to poor effort. Um. I like like that was that was kind of what we noticed when we were going through those series. So I think this is kind

of the way these teams are. I mean, we we've seen it with all these teams, Brooklyn Blue, Game Blue, Game three, in Game four in Boston, you know, uh, just for no reason other than that they weren't playing hard. You know that that kind of thing. It just as part of part of the way these NBA teams are. Um, the Lakers are one of the more consistent effort teams. It just this is how it can bite you in

the butt. If you if you let one, if you let one or two of them go in a seven game or all of a sudden injury puts you with your back against the wall, and then that's what happened here. The only the only like disagreement with that is like we had the best defense it was it was with like a bunch of different lineups, right, Like I felt like we had a bunch of different squads throughout the year. Like that's that's my name. Main difference from last year

and last year. Like, I think the farther that we get away from it, the more kind of special that is. Like groups like that don't really Like they've talked about it as well. They said that was one of the most cohesive units that they've been on teams that they've been on, and Vet Steps said that, um and also like that team just played together more. They had a

lot more cohesion. They played games together, And I think that matters when you get into a playoff series, do or die kind of situations where you don't need to just think you know where your teammate is going to be. You need to like, no, you need to absolutely know, like my help is going to be there on the back side. That's just like the X and these part

of it. But also I just need to know, like, Okay, if I get beat here, my guys gonna be at the rim helping for me, and those kind of things you just build through a regular season, and this team just never got a chance to kind of do that and still have the talent to kind of oversee that. But just when you don't have the talent as well

a D L Lebron not himself. Um, those things add up, and I think that's where last year's team kind of had to how to roll over over this one where they a lot more cohesion exactly what other guy would be minutes together, all those kind of stuff, um, that that this team never got a chance to do. I agree with you, and that to me is the difference. Like, the difference is not in mentality to your question, Jack, Like the difference in my opinion, is not in mentality

from this year to last year. It's the continuity and and that's not their fault. I like, I think health was the entire reasoning behind it. I also think we could probably safely assume that they don't even sign Drummond. If if a D and Lebron stay healthy throughout the season. That kind of feels like a reactionary signing as a result of a perceived lack of depth and talent. And that's not to say that Drummond is it was a

bad signing or anything like anything like that. But my point is is they never even got to continue with that Marcosol starting lineup that actually was really good, you know, and build the continuity that they could fall back on in the playoffs. Yep, I agree, Jack, I appreciate you. I'm gonna keep this, keep appreciate keep this mind moving, Jen Jennef are you there? Yeah? How you doing, man?

How you guys doing doing? My question is this, what do you guys feel about the trade with Skttle Lowry that they didn't we didn't the foot Dayal and Horder Tucker the guy can play in the playoffs? Man, he's unplayable. Jason, I'll let you. I'll let you touch this one first.

So I hate Monday I hate Monday morning quarterbacking for the record, Like what I mean by I hate it is like I don't think anybody gets to play that I told you so card, Because to me, that's that's big banking on results rather than you know, acknowledging the fact that everything is a gamble. The Kyle Lowry trade could have happened and the Lakers still could have lost.

That that's the important first detail that said, I think we do all know for a fact that Kyle Lowry would have been a more reliable game in and game out type of player in this series than Dennis Shrewder would have been, you know, and I think that that was one of the parts that got gloss over. But yeah, I'm not in a position to sit here and say, like, oh, I told you guys it should have Kyle Lowry, because I just feel like that's being intellectually dishonest and being

captain hindsight, and I'm not going to do that. Yeah, I just think like it was still I would still probably not do the deal like Lowry with a hobbled a d and a hobbled Lebron, I'm not sure how far you're going anyway, right just even looking at I know you don't like to do the morning quarterback or however that's called, but just looking even at adding Lowry to this team, you probably get maybe one more win, two more wins, But you know, you're not going anywhere

with eighties, not himself, lebrons on himself anyway. So you still get to keep KCP. Still it keep Dennis shrewder maybe going forward to keep th HT and whatever picks the Raptors were asking for. So the tough thing to kind of go back and look at um. So, yeah, I still probably wouldn't do the deal with Lowry help maybe, but well, we'll never know, and I'm I'm comfortable with their decision in the off season. The one tricky thing

with that is that'll be interesting to see. And again, I don't want to dive more into the off season because I know, I know Roj wants to stay in the moment. But if they end up letting Dennis walk because they don't think he's worth the money, and uh, and then you don't have the option of signing Lowry to that you know, two year, fifty million dollar extension that he wanted. That's the one part that kind of

stucks is if you had. One of the factors of that trade is everyone was like, oh, well we'll keep Dennis, you know. Yeah. And one thing, one thing, last thing I'll say about Dennis that I think is important is he was playing really well before the damn COVID suspension and like he had that game against Utah where he just picked them apart and and then he his his his dumbass went and did something stupid it and got suspended for two weeks and completely disrupted any of that.

And I think that that was something that to keep in mind as far as in defense of Dennis. Yeah, that's a sad part about this. He's had a good season, like we were even talking about like an all defense type of season, you know, and he was playing well, and then he went out for COVID once and then went out again right before the season and that was just brutal killed his rhythm. He was not he even talked about it. His conditioning was killed. And he's had

two good games in this series as well. That will all be forgotten if he plays bad again in Game six. And that's the sad part about this is like fans are really going to jump on him. It's really easy to kind of scapegoat him as well. He's easy one with Drum and his his misses are also loud, right, Like when he has bad games are allowed very similar to Drum, and he'll go like over eight over one

for twelve or something like that. And that's that's kind of sad part about this is he's had a good season, but you get judged on the playoffs and that's kind of how it goes. Jenne. I appreciate. I appreciate you. Man. We're gonna try to get that line move and appreciate you. Let's see, Renee, are you there? How you don't follow us? How's it going? Man? A couple of things I wanted to touch on really quick with you guys, Like one, Um, you touched on it earlier. I'm still optimistic to an extent.

I do think that we can win the series if a D is healthy. But that's banking on that, um. But the question I have for you guys is like, looking ahead to the off season, what are you looking for us to do with the rosters? Putting rods on the spot? I like, man, that's that? That just that hinges so much kind of I guess not really. I mean it kind of hinges on what happens in Game six, But um, I really don't know, man, I can't even

think that far. Like that's such a like I don't know where you go here, Like I guess you gotta re sign Dennis and kind of hope this team comes back healthy. Still Lebron in a d helped the resign out with Caruso. That would be my priority number one. UM. Also bring back Marcusol and then everyone else has kind of signed. Kuzma's there, and then you kind of fill

in veterans um from there. Marcusoft is actually signed next year, so you don't have to worry about that, UM, but you just bring other vets that want to win, and I think they'll do that. I'm not worried about the off season. So that's that's kind of where I would That's where I'll go with it. But I don't even want to talk about that. Man. We're still alive. We're still alive. We're not going there. Yeah. The one thing that I'll say is something that I tweeted earlier. You know,

given the circumstances, all of the outlier circumstances. I don't even know how you. I don't even know how you make any calls, Like how do you if as rob Oblinka, how do you sit there and think like, oh, this is what we needed or that's what we need, or this guy isn't a good fit or that guy is not a good fit when they've never played like they've barely played together. So I don't know how. I don't know how you make those calls like it's uh, you know,

it's it's one of those things. I tweeted this, you know, weeks ago, um before, back in the in the regular season, when we were all talking about how the Clippers thing wasn't working, and it's like, why would you blow it up if you're the Clippers after this season when everything everything was so unusual, and everything was was was chaotic

and everything was not like a normal season. And I I like, even if the Clippers would have lost to the Mavericks, would have been like, hey, like, I don't think we should jump the gun here when when this is not a normal season. And so that that's my thing. I don't think you can even make calls about the off season based on this series. I think I think it did like for all, you know, the same group of guys healthy, you know, runs off seventy two wins and wins the title and you don't know, you just

don't know. Yeah, I agree, Renee. We appreciate you man, Uh are you there. Yeah, man, I'm here. Man good, how are you doing that? Doing as well as we can? Man? Which it was. It was a rough one, And my man, I guess my question is maybe based off kind of like your last jury. You might not want to get too much into this, but um, I think it's pretty evident at this point that Lebron's window is kind of closing, um in terms of father time catching up to him

and all those type of things. And then I guess I'm just kind of wondering, like what your comfort level is with with Anthony Davis kind of being the leader of the Helm for the next five years under his new contract, you know, like once once that time does come from Lebron in terms of his injury issues, and then you know the occasional no show no shows in playoff games. So but really quickly, I tweeted this earlier

and I and I stand by it. Like seven months ago, Lebron was living in the paint as the Finals MVP seven months ago, and he had a contact injury, one of the few that he's had in his career that that knocked him out for basically the last thirtysomething games of the season. So as far as far as I'm concerned,

his his end is eventually going to come. But I don't think it's necessarily fair to use this is like the doomsday scenario, because I don't like healthy stars which struggle in the same circumstances, you know, like I don't.

I don't think it's a coincidence that c. J. McCollum is having a tough series with Denver when he missed most of the season with with the I think it was plan or faciare or whatever it was that his his injury was so So the point is is, like it's just it's it's really hard for any his basketball so rhythm oriented. Like I'm gonna use a stupid personal example, but like I'm going to a Ruba on Thursday, and

I'm gonna be gone for eight days. There's a zero percent chance that I just come back and play like my normal self. When I go play like it's gonna take me weeks to get back into shape after being basically a beach bump for eight days. Then I think I think that's kind of the problem here is Lebron was effectively off of his foot for probably five six weeks there and then, and then did very minimal stuff to kind of inch his way back on the court.

And then he's like like he's in like training camp mode right now, while the dudes that he's playing against are coming off of the best season of their careers and playing at the top of their games. Like that's a difference here. And Jason, you said seven months ago, not three months ago, he was having an m v P level season, like exactly. It was the leader from the m v P before you know, he went down

and then your kids kind of took that over. But and he was getting to the rim game, to the basket, showing no real ill effects, UM, jumping as high as I've kind of seen him getting to the basket, taking contact, um, m VP level kind of numbers MVP level impact even without a d in there, like he was he was himself. Man. I yeah, I mean, I agree with you. I think it's definitely it's super hard to obviously discount Lebron. I mean, what he's already done in his career is is incredible,

you know. I mean I think at this point, you know, like y'all said, seven months ago, and like you just said, three months ago, he was you know, m VP talk, right, and I Oh sorry, I was just gonna sell what what do you think? Like, I guess more of my question is is like, what y'all's level of concern more for more for Anthony Davis, like over the next five years. So I still think he needs a high level shock creator to kind of be next to him, right, I

think that's pretty clear. Um, I don't think a guy like Dennis Shrewder is enough. And look, the Lakers are. The Lakers are gonna attract high level shock creators. That's just how the kind of world works, right, That's how they're going to go after pre agents that are gonna fit with him. And uh, I just don't think Lebron is as close to done yet as that kind of UM playmaker. And when those two are playing together, Man, the Lakers are a high level team. They win at

a high level UM and they still do. But yeah, that's where my concern would be with a d I can't really talk on the injury kind of stuff. I mean, this was kind of a weird year for him, short offseason. He came in out of shape, was never really himself, to be honest. If you look at eighties games, even early on, Um, even when they were twenty one and six. He was loafing through games. He was not really trying on a lot of nights. UM, So that's I hope next year he comes in kind of with a with

a killer attitude. I picked him for Defensive Player of the Year this year. I was way off. He approached the season way differently than I thought he would. I thought he would approach it the way Lebron would. I thought Lebron would approach it the way he would, and it just didn't happen. But that's where I see with a D that's my main concern here. He's still not a high enough level shock creator where he can be the number one kind of scoring option on the title

level team. I guess do you see that as well, Jason, Yeah, I do. But I also think that the partnership works in the sense that, um, Lebron's playmaking will continue to be a thing as he gets older. You know, like think of it like this, like, uh, this version of Bron and this series. You know, a guy who's averaging you know whatever it is, twenty one points a game on you know, right around you know, the high forties from the field, and you know, capable of knocking down

threes and is still passing the ball really well. Like that version of Lebron is going to be old Lebron. Like the way the way Lebron is right now is the way I see him in a couple of years. I just happened to think he still has some peak in him that has been taken away by the injury. But the point is is when a D was being physically dominant, dominant in Games two and three, they won comfortably against this really good Son's team. So I'm still

a believer that this pairing works even as Lebron ages. However, with a D there are a couple of things to keep in mind. One, the injury stuff is real, Like he has to figure out how to stay healthy. I don't know what that is. I don't know if it's his diet. I don't know if it's his workout regimen. I don't know if it's his pliability. I don't know. I don't know what it is that he's got to do. But he's got to figure it out. Because here's the

reality of the situation. Everyone goes out quick turn around, a quick turn around, blah blah, and I agree, don't get me wrong. It was part of it, but like the Lakers still had seventy two days, that should have been enough for him to at least like, even if he was rusty, he should have come in at least healthy. You know your point. You know, Davis has never really been a consistent person that's been healthy throughout his whole career.

I mean, even when he was in New Orleans, he he had tons of tons of injury issues, you know. And when he's healthy, he's not healthy. That's the thing, you know. And and and then my last criticism with him in terms of like a franchise cornerstone is his tendency to completely no show about one out of every

five playoff games is bizarre. And and and that's one thing that I that I don't know if it I don't know if it stems from playing with Lebron and somehow, you know, the Lebron's hello CenTra is helio centrism being a problem or I don't know, I don't I honestly don't know what it is, but that that would be my one other thing. But both of those things, the injury stuff, and uh and the you know what will rather what Roger was saying the lack of playmaking and

his tendency to no show playoff games. Having Lebron with him is almost perfect because Lebron makes up for that stuff with the playmaking, and because Lebron almost always seems to sense when a D s not mentally there and he tries to make up for it. We saw a lot of that last year in the postseason. If you remember, a D would just be completely loafing around in the first half and Lebron half thirty before halftime. You know, And I think that I think that the pairing works.

But the injury stuff he's got to figure out, because this is going to be a season that got derailed by an a D injury here. That's basically what's happening here. And and this is one out of two now, you know what I mean. Have to be fair. I mean, he played Tanner, We appreciate you. We kind of bring some of these PEPs here. I Axander, can hear us? The only thing I'll say on eighties, like he played seventy games consistently. I think the previous three before last year.

Last year he also played a thing like seventy games or something. He just goes down a lot he scares us a lot. He has a lot of like, you know, go to the locker room, get a Chad come back. That's the kind of scary thing with him. And I think it's just a mentality thing. He's very It's very easy for him to just give the ball to like Tennis shrewder and be like, oh yeah, I'm supposed to space here, and like a quarter will go by and he took like two shots and then he'll try to

get a rid up. So that's my only thing with with a D. But Alexander, can you hear us? Bro? Yeah, I can hear you, guys. I can hear you guys. Thinks let me talk to you guys. Um And something I've uh an issue I've had all season is the Lakers shooting right. I mean, I think we lead the league and missed wide open threes, you know where the defender is six ft or fur other away. How do we fix this because you know we're doing We have

so many people on our roster. You think of k CP, you think of West Matthew's been McLamore, where their only job is to hit hit wide open threes. It's just for me, it's just unacceptable as a fan to watch us shoot sub thirt in playoff game after playoff game. I mean, you can't win a championship that way. I just don't how to fix it. I'm not sure that the venting thing, obviously, I don't think you guys have

the answers to that. But it's just frustrating to watch this brick completely wide open threes that other playoff teams are hitting with consistency. I think that's go ahead, Okay, I was gonna say that that's tough. Yeah, there is no real ANSWPA. They're they're pros. They're supposed to get their open shots. They work on them. But like tonight, just gonna use tonight as the example, Like they shot it scared, and you really don't have a chance if

you shoot it scared. Like if you can at least shot it confidently, you can put them up, you shoot them open. I can kind of live with the misses the passing of shots, which is kind of troubling um going forward here. But yeah, it's tough, man. They won last year with it, though, right they struggled shooting all the year and h we all we all said they'll hit him when it counts um but even like the

home games. I mean not to cut you off, but like you mentioned earlier about hey, role players played better at home, guys did right. Our guys are still shooting from three at home. There's no difference home the road. I don't I don't understand it. Like it's just so many compl And we've been a bad shooting team this year, like you mentioned last year. I don't think we've been in the top half of three point shooting percentage in

the last four or five years. I just don't get it, Like shooters like Danny Green come here to die, like he was decent in Toronto, bad here good in Philly. Like I just don't understand. It's like a curse. I think, Uh, like a couple of things you have to understand that we as a fan base kind of have to understand. You know. First of all, this was by design. The

Lakers prioritized players with defensive talent over players that could shoot. Uh. The Lakers are the kind of team that was like, we're gonna look for the Wesley Matthews Alex Crusoe types, not the Gary Trent Junior types, you know what I mean, And that there is a scenario here where the Lakers of all kinds of shooting and Lebron's having you know, a ridiculous offensive season on crazy high efficiency, and Anthony Davis is dunking on everybody but their average to blow

average defense because none of their guards can keep anybody out of the paint. And you know that, I think that's the thought process there. That said, the percentages have

been even lower than they should be. Like what happened last year was the Lakers were a slightly below average three point shooting team, if I remember correctly, they shot about thirty five from three in the playoffs last year, which was okay, not good, certainly a little bit below average, but enough so that they're high end defense was enough

to carry them, you know what I mean. And this season, what the problem has been is that the lack of shooting has actually been a problem for the first time here in this postseason. Now the important detail, and as Roger and I keep pointing out, the Lakers were up two games to one in this series and showboating in the first half of Game four at home, you know, having fun because while a d was healthy, because even though they could not make a damn three to save

their life. That's so everything. At the end of the day, it might get simplified down to shooting, it might get simplified down to X role player had a bad, bad day. What what it really is is this team was built around Lebron and A D physically pulverizing you, and half of that unit has gone in the other half, Like, what was the whole plan going into this series? We just need to beat the Sun's because A D is

the guy that they can't guard. We just need to give Lebron to trying to get his legs back, and we said he's got like five weeks before that Clippers series, so that's five weeks for him to get back in shape. And the whole thing got thrown off because the guy that was supposed to carry us through that point, A D got hurt and now the guy that's not ready yet has all the responsibility. So like the role players, making shots is certainly a part of it, but it's

it's kind of by design. And the Lakers were winning this series without making threes at one point. Yep, I agree with that, and like you have to win the paint battle, you have to win the free thow bout you have to been the reboundy like if you're not, if you're getting outscored from three, and they're not in the series. Phoenix isn't shooting that great from three either,

and I think that's just by design as well. The Lakers want to run him off the three make book and Chris Paulity contested tough shots, don't put them on the line and live with kind of eight and scoring at the rim. And they've done that to an extent before tonight's you know, total meltdown, and then that second half in Game four. They've kind of done that. They've been in every other, every other game, UM and the three point shooting just has not give him any margin

of air to work with. That's a sad part, and you're right to be frustrated with it. UM Pro should hit their open shots. But this is a defensive minded team. They were built around a defense, and Lebron and a t like Jason said, kind of just mean destroyer of worlds. And one of them is not there and one of them doesn't look like himself yet. So that's that's the trouble part with it, man. And then we hope those shots go down. KCP didn't play last game. He didn't

look like himself tonight either. He's our main shooter, right, He's not an elite shooter, but you know he's a guy when he's open. Was supposed to be a knockdown three point shooter. He was shooting what from three for like the first month and a half of this season, if you remember, Caruso was shooting from three to start this season. Like we're hitting like extremely big time open shots.

And from there they've really cooled off. And the playoffs, you're supposed to hit your open looks to free up the stars. That's the whole point of it, as the whole point of spacing, as the whole point to get Lebron going. Once Lebron gets attacked in the rim, he gets people in foul trouble. It's just just like dynamism that kind of isn't there because has of the open shots not going. People want Lebron and drive. There's nowhere to go. Eighton is sitting at the paint. Jake crowd

is sitting and help. They're helping one pass away. They do not care and I should just can't burn them, um, And that's that's what's happening. But thank thank you guys so much. I appreciate it. Thank you Alexander, We really appreciate you coming on. Man. Surprised no one has asked about Treads yet. It's kind of a funny. There's a

lot of time I talk about him. I think, you know, I could tell that this was kind of the case in game for I think what tries is the kind of guy that doesn't take too kindly to getting thrown in and garbage time the way like I kind of felt like the not that it was garbage time in game four, but I I didn't think Treads was great in his minutes in game four, and that's our part of the reason for that is like he's a little pouty over the fact that he's out of the rotation,

but the reality of the situation is his tread is and turning this thing around, h it's gonna be and role players making threes, you know, no, for sure, Yeah, I didn't think he would have made a huge difference. Maybe his energy. Jay, are you there? Can you hear us? Yeah? What's close? What's going on there? Just just answer your question.

Nobody's asking about Trus because everybody's depressed about shoulder. Um, you're right, Like I'm gonna say this, Let'm tell me how you guys feel about this, right, I think going back to the line up conversations that we were having earlier, I think personally it's too late. I think vocal got too cute, um and continuing to afford I'm not saying that Drummond is the problem, but clear are you there? Can't hear Jay? We lost you for a second. Man,

My bad, my bad, folks, You're good. I don't know, I don't know where I left off, but what I was saying is is that we got to give this Sun's credit. Right. Um, they're frustrating everybody on the court. There. They're baiting Lebron in the wing. Uh, they're bating him in the corner on passes when when they're just throwing a fake double like Lebron is clearly frustrated. And part of that is the spacing like I don't want I

don't want to beat a dead horse. But going back to the line of like I said this, when when Schroeder went into the protocol continuing to put him in the starting lineup, I know this is kind of like the nuclear option, I don't know if you guys know the stats since he's come back from from the protocols, but he's shooting in seven games like that's tempero sent lower than what he shot all season. Right, he had a great season before that. I agree. Um, The problem

is is the Sun's defense is really good. Right, Drummond is a negative spacer in all facets. Schroeder does not shoot the ball, right, and then you have every other wing on the on the Lakers just not taking a shot. You guys were having a conversation earlier about what was different from last year's team and this year's team, and I agree that it's it's there's a lot of moving parts. You can't um, you can't compare them. But my simple answer is Lebron was making every single decision when it

came down to current time. You had Lebron on the ball and he was getting put in high picking rolls and he was making every decision. We had sixteen turnovers tonight and they scored twenty three points off those turns. Yeah.

So ultimately my question is is do you think that there's any value at all whatsoever to consider bringing Shoulder off the bench to one match campaign, who's who's been kicking everybody's ass um but to just to put the ball in Lebron's hand and just if we're gonna take Like I know we're saying that role players need to hit shots, but when you go look at the film, men, those shots aren't as open as as I think we we think they're when when um, when we were wanting alive, no, no,

for sure, and I think kind of Vogel agreed with you. He pulled true to really early tonight. If you remember, Um, I think Shrewder got pulled with like after like five minutes. Um. He put in Gasol and Crusoe for drumming and Shooter because he was just not playing well and and like there's a lot of positive to him, like I thought his season was okay, but uh, and it gives Lebron another ball handler to where they can't just ball pressure

him all night, which I think they would do. If you take Shooter off the floor, Lebron is the only guy dribbling, and again with drumming on the floor as well, there's just no space. So if you run, they're running ball. Street action was Lebron and drumming and he's trying to you know, put the guy on his back, put the guy in jail, and attacked the rim. And there's no

space there. Shooter. You know, the theory of Shooter was supposed to, you know, give a guy to give to be a pick and roll partner with a d a guy who's a lethal score that you have to kind of um defending the paint as well, a guy that puts pressure on the rim. And he's just none of those things right now. And I just don't know if the COVID thing impacted. He had two really good games. I talked about it earlier Game two. In Game three, we don't win without him, we just don't um. But

the COVID thing, I mean, it sucked. He went into protocol right before the season ended. He just did not have enough time with you know, drumming lebron a d this season. Maybe that's what it is. But you know, maybe they do put in the bench. I was keeping from more Crusoe minutes. He's one of the guys that didn't look scared tonight to shoot, which which says something. Which is sad that it says something, but it does.

He's one of the guys that kind of pulled, so there, maybe I just think it might be too late for that. Like you said, to bring him off the bench, I don't know how much that helps killing his confidence in the process. Right, So you've been going off the bench. Now, maybe you put Crusoe in, you get a little bit better from the starters, but then you get you get maybe nothing from him. Maybe he just goes into a mental blockade. So I don't know where to go with that.

That's a thin line. What do you think, Jason, That's what I was gonna say too. Is just at this point in the season back against the wall making that change? Is it just the risk to reward factor is low? I mean, you can you could effectively bench him by having him start but then pulling him quickly and then bringing him in when Lebron goes to the bench and then attempt to try to salvage whatever that is. But I don't know. It'll be really interesting to see what

happened in game six. It'll be interesting to see if the rotation expands as he just starts throwing stuff at the wall, or if he shrinks it down to like seven guys or eight guys and goes down with the ship so to speak. Um, you know, there's a bunch of different options there. Like I like I said earlier, I'd like to see them go small a little bit um, but just just because Aton has a tendency when he feels like he's in a crowd, he'll give the ball up. So if you rotate fast enough, I think you can.

I think you can still have some success defensively. But I don't know. I mean at this point, like if if, if guys don't start playing to their potential, meaning role players don't start hitting at least league average when when they're wide open, Dennis Shrewter doesn't like Dennis Shooter has to be better than Campaign. Like, if Campaign is going to be better than Dennis Shooter, you're losing the series.

That's just the reality of the situation. Like, and if you don't like you, they're they're capable of playing much better defense than they did tonight too, And I don't know they're there. We've kind of touched on it all already tonight. But I think at this point, the only real starting lineup move to to make would be to start Kassol in hopes of opening up some driving lanes at the beginning of the game. Yeah, I agree with that.

That's the that's the change I wanted to see. I want to seek gasol kind of starting give Lebron's face early. It just feel like we talked about it earlier. But you know, once they brought the solid and the game was kind of over, sadly, like Devin Booker had it going, the crowd was going crazy. They were already down I think ten eleven points um, And by that time, Phoenix buid all their confidence. They weren't missing anything, they were

getting all the calls rightfully. They were the more physical team. Um. They were getting everything going their way. Every offensive rebound went their way, every loose ball. And I think it was too late. You need to get Lebron going, get is scoring going, maybe get the team going that way. Um,

But yeah, I don't. I don't know. Benja Shreoterman that that's a tough decision that has a lot of implications, I think, just not just helping the starters, but it might hurt him and they need him in this series. Even if a d plays, they need his offense. Man, he can't score like this. They need twenty from him, like in a in an efficient way as well. And he also used to be playmaking. He can't be turning

the ball over tonight. He just drove but just no, like no, I don't know how to explain it, like just there was no decision making. He just drove and decided I'm gonna shoot here, and mcal Bridges sent him to the third row. I think three times, um, and he got punked by campaign. Campaign is like out playing Chris Paul in some parts, like that's a tough guy to I'll play right now. But that's that's what I see with Shooter. Man. I don't know where else to

go that. Yeah, I appreciate you, man. We're gonna get let's get one more person that we're gonna kind of call it. I think we've been going here for over an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Let's see Jay. Appreciate you man, Thanks man, good luck songs, see Lakers all the I think he says Lakers all the way. Yeah, how are you doing man? Good are you? How are

you doing doing well? Man? So I was like I think you said earlier in the in the space, that's like you were talking about like a soul minutes how Roman, Because like you said, like we were down double figures.

I just wanted to point out that, like the game was ton ton when was in and then like, Okay, it really felt like because I was noticing like in the game, like the Sun's really started like they were started attacking his slow feet like Chris Paul you had book or they were all sure like they really started talking. And then like that's when like I saw like the Sun's offense got going. Yeah for sure. You know, I just felt like the momentum maybe I guess I remembered it.

It felt like we were down more at that time, but I feel like their momentum was kind of already building. I think we started up like seven nothings or something like that. I think they went on like a fourteen oh run um that coincided with the dissoloments as well. But yeah, I just felt like the game was kind of ended. Lebron was already kind of tired. He saw his teammates are already scared to shoot. That's why men kind of BCP kind of like, yeah, they were, they

were not taking the open shots. Absolutely, Yeah that I thought that like early in the game, the Lakers defended pretty well in the first six minute stretch and then you could just see kind of like as the role players started missing shots and his Lebron's like kinda like, let's see if I got my jumper going tonight type of shots. As they weren't going in, I think the belief left, and when the belief left, the defense slipped,

and then when the defense slipped, it was over. Yeah, I agree with them, and it's hopefully in game six they started off a little bit better. Um, it's not as lopside and after after the first quarter, Yeah, I think this game really fell off defensively. Hopefully everyone plays harder and then the role players played better so we can get game six. Absolutely, man, I agree, appreciate it. Alright, alright, everybody,

Roger and I are gonna get some sleep. I'm gonna quickly convert the recording of this to a podcast for you guys to check out if you didn't hear the thing in its entirety. Roj and I were both very angry in the first half, or whatever our version of angry is. We did our our own little event events as at the beginning of this UM, so you guys will be able to to go back and listen to

it and um uh. The Thursday pod is gonna be a little tricky for me because I'm flying out of Phoenix and I may or may not be in a car, so depending on how good the cell services, I'm gonna try to hop on with ROJ to do a postgame show, but worst case scenario, I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out. Thank you guys all so much, as always UH for your support and UH and hopefully we have more than one more game to cover this season. I appreciate everyone, Thank you so much for hanging out