Heat/Lakers Postgame Spaces

can remember from this team in a long time. When you factor in all of the you know, relevant information, not just Lebron being out, but almost a completely and totally decimated roster um including losing you know, one of their uh not someone that I like for Frank to play, but someone that Frank really likes to rely on with Lebron out, and Rajon Rondo in Austin Reeves who has been one of the primary driving forces of this team's effort, and and uh in passion on the defensive end of

the ball. And then you factor in Miami who was am I correct and saying they were the one seed in the East coming into tonight, rog Yeah, I'm not sure, but if record wise they were, but they they definitely played like it. To me, they're the most impressive team in the East and honestly maybe throughout the league beside

the Warriors. This is a really damn good team, Like we were texting back and forth and we were like, if they lose by like ten or fifteen, would be kind of happy, you know what I mean, like if they can stay competitive, And they did even more than that tonight. But you know, the Heat are a legit really good team. Yeah, I had to I had a really uh you know, at the end of our last odd Um, I told you that I had a kind of a vision for what I expected to happen tonight.

And I'm not I'm not you know, touting this is some measure of success, because I'm wrong about stuff all the time. But I just like Miami brings the best out of people. Like they come in in early and the first few possessions in the game, they always hit you in the mouth. Um with this, with this physicality and focus and intensity, and you know, even even if you look at their bench and their coaching staff, they're just so animated. Like there's a there's a program, a

junior college program here in Arizona. It's called Coaches College and they're right down by the Mexican border, and uh they are in the middle of nowhere, but in the JUCO Conference here in Arizona, they're always the team that everyone hates to play because they have just this loud Boisters coach and they have they just thrive on this this this culture, this like intensity, this everything they do is just so everything they do is just a hundred miles an hour, and a lot of teams just crumble

under like the intensity of it, you know. And to me, the miament he kind of reminds me of that in the NBA, Like they they just play a different level of intense, intense basketball. And obviously they have all this stuff that we hear about with heat culture and the way they make people take care of their bodies and the way that they approach um, you know, everything and every facet of the game. Well, they brought the best out of the Lakers tonight. This was their best effort

that we saw um so far this season. I was worried that fatigue would eventually come back to bite them, which is something we talked about in the last pot, that they would hang around, but eventually Miami would just be too much for them, and that kind of is

what happened. As they got up by I think nine in the fourth quarters, either nine or eleven, I remember, But all it took was Mellow stuck a big three, and then the Leak Monk stuck a big three, and then Avery Bradley banked in the three, and and then Russell Westbrook started making jump shots and and just like that, all of a sudden, the Lakers were able to send it to overtime where they were able to get a win.

But you know, I didn't think I didn't think they had much of a chance to win tonight at all um and and they got it done, so that obviously it's just what a what a great way to kind of kickstart what I hope will be the beginning of what we hope to see from this team this season. And we talked about it, like I think after the last spaces, like Miami was going to get our kind of a game, like they were going to respect them, come with them, come with the competitiveness that they needed

to to play tonight. Like Miami's really damn good. Like I know, I kept saying that they run actions that are really tough toend to defend, even in our two big line up. The offense really ugly. But just like the defensive effort there minus like DeAndre Jordan probably in the third you saw a d exhausted. I thought at the end of the fourth and over time he looked like he had very little left left in the tank. But like, this is the type of stuff I wanted

to see. We kept kind of blaming their you know, their losses on the injuries, which is true, you know, losing the three rotation players outside of just Lebron, But like, if you play like this, you don't lose against Okay, see twice, you know what I mean. Like, just like if you play with this type of effort and you know they're not gonna shoot the way they did tonight. I think the link Monk was like ten of thirteen at one point, but the defense was there. Russ again

had the turnovers and stuff. But this is just a big time win, man. I want to kind of stick on that. It could have easily, like you know, faltered you talked about Miami went up nine, and I thought we kind of let go of the rope there. I thought we didn't have enough offense to keep up. But like you said, Carmelo, big time three. He had another one was like a little dribble in mid range jumper.

I think when we were down seven or something, he said, Miami is a team we don't want to play like Kyle Lowry and p J. Tugger are annoying as hell to play when you're on the other side, like they just they just are. Kyle Lord played forty two minutes in regulation. Didn't even realize that until I saw the numbers in overtime. But yeah, Miami is a tough, tough team.

It's a big win, man, Like this is. It was ugly, there was some turnovers late, but this is just a big time win that you can kind of build off of here going forward. I think they played the Spurs next. I'm not hundred cent sure, but you know, this is a this is a big time win that they got tonight. I agree. You know, we talked a lot about identity right with the Lakers. This this uh, you know, their identity in the previous two years was everything that they

did on the defensive end of the ball. But the true phiz is that with the personnel that they have right now active with a reason out, with th ht out, with Lebron out, it's really hard to have like a hard nose defensive identity. But your identity is kind of vague, Like your identity doesn't have to be defense like Brooklyn.

Brooklyn's identity is in defense. Brooklyn's identity is just having a bunch of really high i Q players and a ton of offensive talent on the floor, and you know, just just in the aggregate, when you factor in their average defense, that's enough to carry them and every given every single night, the way they play offense is their identity.

The same goes with the Warriors with their ball movement and the way that Steph drags attention and and they do everything off of that attention that he that he gathers from the defense. Well, with this Laker group, like maybe the the the the identity becomes them just playing hard.

And that's what it was tonight, you know, like just bringing that you can if your identity becomes that effort and focus in every fast out of the game, even if you don't have the defensive talent, then when the ship it's the fan and things get really hard, you'll fall back on that identity. And that identity could just be we play really really hard, you know what I mean, And and that's what carried them tonight. Like I bet you when we go back and look at the defensive metrics,

they'll be good, not great. You know, they didn't blow they didn't they didn't strangle Miami tonight. There was they gave them some big problems with their two big lineups, but when they went with a D at the five or with Dwhite Howard at the five, like they gave up a lot of baskets tonight. But the truth is is throughout the game, with exception of the few rolls in there, they were able to maintain a certain level

of effort uh and focus. And if that, if that becomes their identity, if this team plays hard every night, when Lebron comes back and all these guys come back, they're just gonna start beating the hell out of people

because they do have a lot of talent. You saw that tonight, you know what I mean, And which I think is a good good segue into Molik Monk because you know, Molik Monk is an extremely talented basketball player I've seen a lot of but compare him to to Lou Williams, you know, or um like he's just your stereotypical,

like off the bench, nuclear offensive guard. And it always bothered me that Frank was so hesitant to play him, or when he would play him, play him in kind of a role where he's off the ball all the time, you know, where he's primarily just standing in the corner, not really involved in the offense. And the truth of the matter is that the guy like that, like you know the phrase like let him cook. You have to you have to let Molik Monk have the ball in

his hands. Then you have to let him you have to let him get comfortable, and you have to let him make plays. Like there people you like you said at the beginning, like, oh, Molik Monk got hot. Maybe that's on characteristic. Yeah, like he's not. The dude's not go an average twenty seven. You're right about that. However, like that, in order for him to have a game like this every two or three games, he has to

have the ball in his hands. And so I I like the direction of going that way as a secondary ball handler option, you know, when you're not going through Russ and when you're not going with Lebron instead of going through Rod though, do you agree as far as

Milik Monk is concerned. Oh, yeah, he looked. He looked awesome tonight, and he was the de facto backup point guard right because we had Russ and then just no one backing him up, and there were some turnovers with that, but yeah, you could see him getting more and more comfortable as the game kind of went on with this shot.

He was really comfortable taking it from far. He was running pick and rolls, you know, trying to find a D. There were some bad passes there, but you're right, man, like just he again I said, he was like ten of thirteen. And what I mean by like, he's not gonna go off like this every night, but he doesn't have to write. You can just be a little bit of like a nuclear, like you said, offensive punch off

the bench. And I kept thinking, like, I want to see him next to like Kendrick Nunn, you know, I think that's like a really fun kind of backcourd to bring off the bench him with like Ellington as well, and if you can put defenders around that because he's fearless. He's a fearless guy. Gets to the basket. Gave Russ a guy you can give the ball too, because they just kept switching that Russ and a D ball screen and they let Malik kind of just like you said, let him cook. They let him cook for a lot

of that fourth quarter. Uh, there was nothing going on the in the half court and they just said here, Malik, you know, do your thing. And he was able to go off tonight on you know Tyler Hero and Duncan Robinson, who again aren't great defenders, but you know, he took advantage of that coming off screens, being able to pull

up off the dribble. He's a guy that this is why you go and get these type of offensive players, right, Like, this is kind of what you saw in the defense for offense trade and I thought you saw that on the defensive end as well. Got back cut a lot, but like this, his offense was huge and we're gonna need him and I want to see him next to like the starters and playing next to defensive minded players

because I think he can really go off. But but you're right, he's a nuclear option that they can go to. And what I mean, he doesn't have to be the guy. But if you have him or Ellington or none or Thhd going off, at least one of them going off. If you get too, I think we're in business. But that's what I saw from the night because this is something he definitely can do. He can he can go for to thirty on on any given night and you

can win you game. Like that's the key. Like he made a gigantic three in overtime, and he made a gigantic three in the fourth quarter that got them back into the game. And you know, it goes back to that idea that we've talked about a lot this season

having to do with versatility. You know, if if Malik doesn't have it going, if you've given him a six minute shift where the ball has been in his hands a lot and it's not going, you can go with a Bradley, you can go with the Reeves, you can go with the th h T or in Ellington, you

can go with a different option. That there. The whole concept of the way this was put together, in my opinion, was versatility, like having options, Whereas in previous seasons it was like do you want this defensive guard or do you want this defensive guard, or do you want this guy who probably is gonna, you know, go one for four from three or this guy who's gonna go one for four from three. No, it's like this year we have a mix of all of those types of identities.

I mean, and we're going to talk about Ellington at some point later in the show, and he's another example. He's almost like a third a third archetype of guard, you know, like we have these guys like Malik Monk and Raijion Rondo or these primarily you know, dribble dribble attack, have the ball in their hands to feel comfortable type

of guards. But then we have these you know, Austin Reeve types, these Avery Bradley types that are just just focus on the defensive end and you never have to run a play for them and they can just stand in the corner and shoot threes. But then we also have this Wayne Ellington is like Duncan Robinson type of archetype that you can run him off of screens and

the way that that occupies defenders off the ball. Like Wayne hasn't shot the ball well this year, but when when he's been out there, the offense has looked very fluid because of just his gravity and and what and what he brings uh with his intelligence as a as a as a off the ball shooter who can move around and and keep the defense out of you know,

off balance. Like that, they're just options here there that we're starting final just finally and you know what, Laker fans, you deserve it because it's been a rough go here early on. But this is finally starting, just barely to take shape as what our vision was for what the good version of this team could be, which is everything that the old teams were, just with versatility to go in a different direction when things aren't working, and and to and to me, that's exciting. And you know what,

Malik has been defending better. I think this is a good segue into mellow in his defense. You know, we talked a lot about We talked a lot about how, you know, guys like k CP, guys like how Kuzma Um, you know, even Alex Caruso to a certain extent, just coming up through the Lakers system and th h T. You know, like, if you ship th ht off to NBA Siberia and he learns to play basketball somewhere else, he might not be the same defender that he's shaping up to be under Frank, you know what I mean.

And and I think it's really cool to watch over the last couple of years the way some of these really limited defensive players that struggle on that side of the floor have shaped into pros who can hold their own on that end, and it has been awesome to see Mellow start to show some sparks of defensive potential, not I shouldn't even say potential, but just being able

to hold his own, you know. And that the same goes for Monk and and I mean even DeAndre Jordan, even though we slammer him all the time, he's playing a lot better on defense than he was in Brooklyn, even though we still want more out of him. It's been cool to see that shape together and that was gonna take a lot of games. So are you are you certain to come around on that as well? Do you think this defense could come around to where it was in previous seasons by the end of the year.

I'm not sure to where it was. I mean, they were the best defensive the league last year and wear before I think they were right there, but it's definitely coming up. And we talked about defensive identity to start. You went into that ad is kind of defensive identity and a lot of times and I thought he was just incredible tonight. I don't know if you would agree like he was. Miami's again like a really tough team.

They run a lot of screen actions. Bam is kind of in the middle of the floor and he's kind of operating. And I thought a D, especially in the in the first three quarters, that he got a little bit tired there in the fourth, but the shutting off all those actions be able to come up help on Hero and still get back to Bam defend the rim, and he's playing with like a D S surrounded by like all these four guards, three guards with Mellow and Mellow I'll get into him as well. Just incredible, like

seeing him, like you said, move his feet defensively. About a D. Tonight, I thought was great. Shutting off the rim, got a bunch of strips on Bam, some block shots, he got beat down the floor a couple of times, but taking away lobs like I thought, he was just great. Tyler Hero hit a bunch of contested shots over every Bradley the hell I guess I'll kind of live with. But again, I thought a D was a huge deterrent on them and Carmelo man like watching him rotate and

be right there, you know what I mean. With the Lakers, with the coverage they run, and he's starting to understand where he's supposed to be, Like I said, he's never gonna always get to stop, but he started being the right place more than often. Like he's not a guy that you can just pick on in the post. They try to go at him, and he got to stop there.

He strips the ball really nicely. It's just really cool because this shooting is so it's so important for this team right now that if he's just passable defensively, and to me, he was even more than that tonight. I thought he was actually even kind of a plus defensively, especially next day. I agree. I thought he was legitimately a plus defensively tonight, which is wild. I cannot believe I'm saying it. I thought him in a D like as the four or five was our best kind of

defensive lineup. The way that Dwight was kind of fouling. Dwight I think fouled out in eleven minutes. So I didn't really get to see much of the Dwight a D combo tonight. But yeah, I thought him and Melow

really were in seeing again. Miami makes you like switch and talk on almost every coverage, the way they run Duncan Robinson entire hero off all these actions in the corners, and I thought Melo held his own, Like we went on that run in the fourth we were down nine, Mellow was on the floor and when we made on that run, and obviously they scored a bunch of points,

but also got a bunch of stops. I thought he was great, Like just seeing him be able to defend like that, and like I see people saying he wasn't defending like this. I guess in Portland, maybe I wasn't really watching that as closely. Body might be a little bit better, but he just looks so ready to be on a winner and beyond a title contender. It's cool to see him playing that out. But yeah, he was great and a d I thought really shut them down the first in the first few minutes of that game

to make it even close. Like you said, the offense is super ugly to start these games, but the defense was there. I thought it was. It was great And if they can keep building on this, man, this is something you can build off of, Like you can't do this and then go do a stinker against whoever they play next, Like this is like something you can legitimately build off of, even if Lebron is not gonna play

for a little while. You know, It's it's funny because we you and I have talked so much about how when Anthony Davis is on the floor, you know, your defensive job is less complicated than it is on other teams. You know, like if you're if you're playing for the Washington Wizards, you have to be so sharp on the perimeter and you have to cover so much because you don't have that you know, all encompassing defensive mistake a racer on the back end, you know what I mean.

And and that was what was so shameful about the way the Lakers played to start the season, is like we watched, you know, pretty limited guards you know in previous seasons come in and see the very small checklist of defensive responsibilities they had in the Laker lineup, and and to not and to knock it out of the park. And so to see the guys this year coming and really struggle, it was frustrating. And because when you watch

the game, you see it with effort. It was like, Okay, this guy just died on that screen, or this guy is just not even paying attention off the ball, or okay, they beat us off the dribble and we rotated, you know, a D stepped over and and stop the guy at the rim, and and kicked to the corner, and one guy ran out to stop him in the corner. But then they swung it one more time and no one was there, you know what I mean Like that, it just was it was just super super sloppy on that front.

And what we saw tonight, it was for the first time all season for the most part, during the whole game, with exception of that ugly stretch there in the fourth quarter, they did a really really good job of those responsibilities. They were applying ball pressure and chasing guys off the three point line, funneling them into Carmelo and a D

under the rim. And like you said, Carmelo did a really really good job in that Lebron role of any time anybody caught in the middle of the floor on the short roll, he just stepped up and disrupt them

and made that next past tough. And then and then when that read came out of the short roll, guys were flying around and rotating the shooters and contesting shots and and that's it's really that simple, you know, Like that there was there was a job that had to be done in this system, and guys weren't doing their jobs to start this season. And now over the course of uh, you know this, slowly incrementally, guys are starting to do those jobs. In the defense is starting to

look better. And guess what, it's only going to get easier and easier to when you when you get Lebron in there. You know, like that that if like we've talked a lot about you you talk a lot about the Russ A D lineups, right, You talked about how like, hey, like when when Lebron is off the floor, we have to really lean into russ a D ball. Well, if Mellow can be a passable defensive power forward in that lineup, holy cow, man, Like I'd go Russ Mellow a d um and and do do a lot of that kind

of stuff. Because because with that spacing that they had, especially when they went with Monk and Mellow on the wing, they were just getting fantastic shots every time down the floor. Um, we just could never go to those lineups enough this season because they would just get destroyed on the defensive end. And now finally, by by virtue of them losing some games and put it finding themselves in a position where they have to do the job in order to win.

Guys are starting to do it and so and so that's exciting because dude, it's only up from here because talent is, reinforcements are on the way right. And I

want to give Russ like a shout out. We're gonna guess we're gonna talk about him pretty soon here his offensive moments, but just even defensively, like chasing around Duncan Robinson in the late game plays and you know, trying to chase around Tyler Hero, watching him get in a full like defensive stance and you know, playing full up on Tyler here, Like it was awesome seeing him as well compete on that end. And that's what we're gonna have to have, man, We're gonna have to have the

whole team kind of competing defensively like this. Miami is a really good team. And you could tell the Lakers respected them in a way, like they came out with the effort, you know, from the tip off, like you could tell this was serious. Miami's a team that you know, talks back and forth, and you know, it kind of got Carmelo going the kind of ship talking back and forth but I think this team like they just needed that tonight. But I wanted to give Russ a quick

shout out there as well. Defensively, I thought he was I don't know what happened on that last play where Tyler hero got open, but you know, just for the whole kind of fourth and overtime, I thought he really I thought he really competed on that end, and that's what we're gonna need. I guess we can kind of move move on to Uh, he's just doing like Russ is just doing his job now, Like that's that's the key.

Like there was a there was a certain level of um, you know, him carrying over some bad habits from his previous destinations into this role, right, which is was to be expected, like no one, no one, no one changes overnight, you know, especially since we talked about like like if you ever watched Austin Reeves play defense man, this guy gets hit in the face on everything like every quarter at least once, or the shot to the nose or an elbow to the ribs or something like doing the

job of changing. We talked about this a lot on the pod. Chasing people over the top of the screen, uh, flying around in rotations. It's a dirty job. It sucks. And throughout Russ's career, especially after Kad left, he's had so much on his plate offensively that he's been able to really really relax on that side of the floor and take so much of his focus and energy away from that. And you know, I think I think we saw a lot of that carry over into the season.

And ideally with Lebron here he'd have lesser offensive responsibility so that he can devote more energy to that end. But like that short term urgency that Frank was talking about plays a big role here. You know, the Lakers had an option. They had two options. The Lakers said they were sitting at five and five coming off a really really bad loss to Oklahoma City, and they had two options. It was play better basketball or just keep losing.

And a lot of guys had to look in the mirror, Guys like mellow guys like Rus even a d has stepped up his intensity so much over the course of of this past week. Like guys had to look in the mirror and say, like, are we gonna start to fix these problems or are we just going to continue with the status quo? Get our butt kicked by Miami, get our butt kicked by San Antonio, get our butt kicked by Minnesota, and just tell everybody, oh, well, Lebron's gone,

Like Lebron will be back and then everything will be fine. No, no, no, they they're they addressed. They're starting to address those problems. And that's the most important part because we already know what Lebron can do and we know how he slots into all of this, right, So getting all of these guys on board with what their jobs were was such

an important little checkbox in this process. You know, we've we've talked a lot about the you know, the little checkpoints that you look for over the course of the NBA season, and we talked about how that Oklahoma City lost. Both of them were bad, they were bad checkpoints, right, Like those were examples of like kind of red flags. Right. But what happened tonight, this win tonight, in my opinion, is a huge example of a good checkpoint, a championship

chip checkpoint. Winning a game you're not supposed to win against the team that was heavily favored. I told you on the last part that'd be favored by four or five points. It was either four and a half or five depending on which book he went to. They like, literally, they were supposed to lose this game, your best players out. It was either lose and no one's gonna blame you because you're supposed to, or go out and win the damn thing. And what championship teams do is they go

out and they win the damn thing. And that's what the Lakers did. And so this was kind of a doesn't this just kind of like take the taste of one of the at least one of those Oklahoma City losses out of your mouth? Maybe not both, maybe not both. Maybe they need to win the next two, but at least one of those Sea games has to be kind of wiped away from our memory at this point for sure. Yeah. I said, like before the Portland game that if they got that one, I would kind of, you know, forget

about one of the Okay See games. But it's crazy that the same team tonight when I got their as kick, you know, in Portland by a team that just can't get its feed together either. Like that's what I mean by they should at least be competitive, you know what I mean, Like with even without Lebron, even though a d even though a d kind of went out in the first quarter. Were there, like there's enough talent on

this team to where you can be competitive. And you can see they're starting to get comfortable right Lebron has been out a few games, Like players are starting to slot into where they are now. They have to move up one in the rotation or whatever. Russ still like being the main ball handler. Now, They're still gonna be turnovers and stuff. But you saw him kind of get

his foot together. There's some plays, man, and I guess we can kind of transition into Russ's offensive game because like those aren't great midrange pull ups, Like Mark Jackson was begging him to take those market those pull ups all night. Uh, they're gonna be open all night. I'll be hit them and they're in rhythm. We talked about the mid range jumpers for us. There's ones where it's like, you know, come up, it's contested, and there's others where he's like in a full on dribble pull up rhythm

where it just looks a lot smoother. I thought those last two, the one was a fade away kind of I think he thought he got fouled, but the one right over right over on in the mid range where he hit like that was that's a that's a good shot for him, Like in the late against the switch, like I thought that was a good stock for him. But yeah, like Russ got his moment and stable center, like this is a big time play, big time moment. That's what he came here for. You come here to

play these games for if Lebron's out. When Lebron's out, like this is a big game for him. And I thought he really came through, especially offensively. They needed it. Like we we complain about the turnovers and stuff like that, but you saw when he went to the bench, the team just had zero offensive rhythm. Miami is too good to just run this like throw the ball to a d like their health defense is way too good and completely under control by the way. Yeah, and band like

shoves Adie off his spot a lot. He saw Adie like catch the ball three point line a lot. Miami is just really good at that. They know exactly where the place players um and I thought Westbrook really came through. They needed every single point. I think he banked in a couple of those jumpers dating him and would you agree with that? He kind of had his moment tonight. Oh absolutely, And I'm happy for Russ because that having a moment like that in Staples is what kind of

just takes some of the pressure off. You know. Vane said something that I thought was really really interesting on Twitter after the last game, and he said that Russ looks like he doesn't want the ball in those moments. Um, not because he's afraid of the moment or anything, but Russ is Russ is very aware of his limitations right now. I truly believe that, like Russ knows he can't shoot, and and Russ knows that guys are packing the paint on him and that when he drives it's kind of

a risk reward proposition that's not in his favor. Um. But ironically, the Lebron injury and bam At of bio just completely shutting a d down, which will get to in a second, Um, that kind of put Russ in a situation where he had to shoot, which you know, in a weird way, when you have to shoot, some of the pressure is off because it's not like if you like when Russ took that pull up fifteen foot or the one that gave him the two point lead

laid before the one legged fade away. That shot is a weirdly low pressure shot because it's like they had just dumped it into a D on the wing a couple of times and each time he turned in face and bam just just swallowed him up. There's just nothing that a D had to go to a fade away, and he, as we know right now, is just not really capable of making that fade away. So in a weird way, Russ is like dribbling the ball the floor. It's like it's got to be met, and so that

takes the pressure off. If misses that fifteen footer, no one's really gonna yell at him because you're like, I guess that's just the best we can do right now, right, you know. So in a weird way, it went in, and that, you know, gave him some confidence. And then he made an even tougher one after that, and then he took a way too tough one after that and

they heard him. But the point is is like, in the long run, Russ doesn't want those possessions because he knows he's limited, and that's why he's going to defer to Lebron so much in those moments and and it's not really something we have to worry about. It just we what we saw tonight was something that we finally got to see that everyone had been talking about, which is can Russ bring a game home when Lebron's gone? And he did, And so I thought it was awesome

for him that he had that moment. And for the record, this is why I said it a race. Okay, so he lost, like that was a huge win, Like seven five looks way better than six and six, especially when you factor in all the reinforcements coming. And so I'm happy for him as far as the A D thing goes. And it's actually super interesting, like you know, this is where spacing becomes a factor because, um, what's Anthony Day this his advantage against bam Adi Bio on the perimeter?

You're gonna go with ball handling and speed probably right, Um, Like A D can't physically overpower bam really anywhere on the floor. That's why when he would start fighting for position ten ft from the rim, he'd catch eighteen feet

from the rim. Um. But if over the course of the season, when they really start to nail down their spacing and how and how to really position everybody that's going to turn into a rip through because ball pressure actually is an advantage to the ball handler as long as they can make reads, as long as they are capable of handling the basketball, which ad is, ball pressure is good for you because the defender is putting himself

out of position to try to make you uncomfortable. And so what I'd like to see in the long run is when when a D finds himself in those matchups where really athletic big someone like Bam pressures him and pushes him away from the basket, he needs space to operate so that he can catch and just ripped through and either get a foul or beat him to the

dribble and get all the way to the rim. And that's where the prospect of Monk and Mellow are so exciting, because the Lakers finally are going to be able to piece together some lineups now that have real spacing, the kind of spacing that will make a D feel comfortable, the kind of spacing that will allow him to be a slasher like that in some cases. And that's all

super exciting. So I I look forward to a D over the course of the season as if he stays healthy, which I'm hopefully they will just getting more and more comfortable and growing into like the peak version of himself as a guy who can handle that type of thing, which will require him to have space to operate, which

this team will finally be able to afford him. Yeah, and they kept trying to like post him up, and I said earlier, Miami's just too good at that, and they were doubling him right away, especially with with our starters. They really even though Avery Bradley had like three threes in the first quarter, they still really just pinched inside the paint. They did not respect you know, Camp baysmore

every Bradley. Like I said, Russell Westbrook, obviously at shooters, a D is still not great passing out of doubles, and against a team like Miami that's so good on our rotations, it was just gonna be ugly. And again they had like p J. Tucker guarding Russ, so there's a lot of switching. Uh. They just switched that pick and roll all night and eight really got nothing open there.

But like we talked about Wayne Ellington earlier, just having one, you know, one knockdown shooter on the floor just changes the balance of that, and then when you put in Malik mont Carmelo Anthony, I thought the floor kind of really opened up. But I can't wait to see him with like actual spacing, actual you know, eighty at the five line ups, with defense around. But I just thought, you know, it was great to see him next to some shooting AD always feels like he's having a rough game.

They you look at the box score, Um, tonight, you played forty five minutes, really toughed it out, twenty four points, thirteen rebounds, and they needed every point of that, every rebound, a bunch of big ones late. But you're right, Bam kind of was able to stay hold on him, and I think Miami is more. That was more of Miami team defense, but Bam was able to kind of push him out of his spot. He got a few really big jumpers going, a lot of pick and pop jumpers.

Still wish he kind of attacked the pain a little bit more. But again, I thought he was tired, but I thought he was great defensively, and I thought that's what mattered really tonight. But hopefully he can kind of get his offense going. I saw when I saw him Leak Monk going and I was hoping aid he can kind of close it out offensively. He got a love late right there too, But yeah, just seeing whim, like do you agree with that? Like did you see the

floor when they had Wayne Allington out there? It just felt like it changed the whole kind of it changed how Miami can defend, and they ran actual actions for him as well. I guess we can kind of more more morph this into Wayne Ellington as well. They were running like, you know, double pin downs for him, and he had a bunch of big threes. But I just thought the floor spacing. When we have one legit guy, they can't leave. It just changed the whole game. And

I hope to see Wayne kind of play more. His jumper looks legit. You know, he's an actual professional shooter as they call it. Um. I think Monk's more of a score, but Wayne, now it's a legit professional shooter, and it's cool to have one on the team, especially playing next to you know, so many non jump shooters right now in a d and then Russ as well, obviously trying to get to the rim. Just one guy you can't leave, you know, And it felt like he

changed the floor. Did I mean on that play, there was one in particular that I have in mind with Ellington on the floor with the idea, and that was so fascinating. It was Ellington. Gosh, was it Ellington, Mellow and Monk. I think it was. I think it's Ellington, Mellow and Monk like, which is just three three shooters that are real shooters, like you cannot leave them open shooters.

And so A d caught at the elbow and he kind of like was had his back turned to the basket and he was kind of looking over either shoulder trying to survey the floor, and obviously he struggles with that, so he kind of ended up spinning like right into Kyle Lowry and p J. Tucker like at the same time and didn't really have any angle and damn near lost his handle but then ran. But the point is is like all the all the guys that they're doubling off of our just dead eye shooters and so and shooters.

The best thing about a shooter is it's not just about their ability to make the shot. Shooters are so good at identifying where their opportunity to shoot is. They can kind of see plays develop and they know their spot to hit. They know when to flare to the corner, they know when to flare to the wing, they know when to cut all the way through on the baseline. They know it's because that's what they've been doing their

whole life, especially guys like Wayne Ellington. You know, Mellow is going to continue to get better and better at that in this phase of his career. But Wayne Ellington saw a D and chaos and saw that he was out of control. And a D has a tendency when he's out of control to throw it back to the perimeter, especially behind him, because he does it. He's not a

great interior passer. And so Ellington just relocated right behind a D at the three point line, and a D even in all that, hey, I was just kind of shoveled it back to him. And Hey, guess what, you just left Wayne Ellington wide open. That's probably gonna go in like seventy at the time, like when his feet are really set and he's really open like that, it's going in. And it did. And so that that kind of thing, too, is like what's so cool about that?

And this is why I looks forward to that line up moving forward is Anthony Davis is an absolute like beast offensively in single coverage. So if you know, obviously we talked about the Band thing earlier, but Band is probably the best defender in the league to throw at a D right. So like the vast majority, the vast majority of the guys that a D is gonna see are gonna have no capability of sticking with him physically.

So guess what happens if you hit Ellington a couple of times, and you hit Monk a couple of times, and you hit Mellow a couple of times, and you show a propensity to be able to make teams pay for doubling you, You're gonna start seeing a lot of single coverage. That's what happens with Lebron. Like the dirty little secrets of most of the Lebron's efficiency is he passes himself open. That's how he gets such great looks.

And so that's what's exciting for me. Is like, if you get lots of reps with Russ and a D line ups with Lebron off the floor with lots of shooting in the other three spots, a D should, over the course of the season start to take advantage of that shooting and open things up for himself, which will allow him to start to go to work in single coverage,

which will cascade into more confidence. This is why I hate the two big lineups, is like it just I like my superstars to be comfortable and confident, and the only way for them to do that is when they have space to operate. And then it just feeds everything else in the game. Guys defend better, Guys are are better leaders, their their attitude is better when everyone's playing better if they just feel better, and it just it just helps the whole team. And so that's why I'm

such a huge believer in that. And and we we have real shooting this year, like real, real real shooting, like problem shooting for the other team. And that's just super exciting to think about all the ways that can help, right, And that's why I was so high on Ellington this summer. And obviously he's not Buddy Healed at all, but it's kind of that archetype. He's a movement shooter, right, you

talked about Monk and Carmelo. Carmelo is more of like a stand still, spot up shooter, like he can create his own shot once he has the ball. But you know at three point line, he's a spot up guy, mink Monk as well, like more like a spot up guy and stuff guy who's catching off the shot. Wayne Ellington can curl and I like that Vogel was actually running like curl plays for him, you know what I mean. And I thought that was really huge and just it

just brings a different type of spacing. You talked about those two big lineups. Russ is still playing in a phone booth, I thought, And that's kind of why we have these starts, these offensive starts. DeAndre Jordan's motor just to me, isn't good enough to continue to continue what we're doing a lot of times where you just staring out the ball let alone, this facing issues. But yeah,

just putting more shooting around, man. And that's why I kept saying, just let's lean into this rust ball, especially with Lebron out, and I think you can do that. Carmelo defends the way he does. Wayne Ellington night, would you get Wayne Ellington was like, Okay, defensively he got backcut a lot. Miami again a tough team to kind of uh to judge that on, but I thought he was fine. I think he was fine, defensively in his minutes, he didn't make mistakes. He was in the right well

he main mistakes on backcuts and stuff like that. But like for the most part, I thought he was fine. But just that shooting. Just have a guy who actually comes off when Adi is that second screener, Uh, he comes off. They trapped Wayne. He gave it back to a d and he hit a mid range jumper or he got an open look on a mid range jumper. Like That's the stuff that we can start to put in and I'd like to see the Vogels using it. You know, he didn't run that stuff for anyone else.

Wayne Allington came back and they started running it for him, and I like that they have specific steps for him. They have to use him if he's out there. I was so high on him this summer. I was disappointed in the preseason how he looked, how he didn't have a shot there. And he's too good a shooter not to at least become somewhat of like maybe not four percent,

but somewhere in that range. And if his defense can just be possible, which it wasn't in the preseason, but you know, right now, I think it looks possible enough, and his shooting, uh, if it's a man, this is this is like the first legit shooter we've had. Carmelo obviously has been an inferno. Um, just to have a movement shooter next to a D and Lebron would be great. So that's why I've been really high on Wayne Ellington all summer, and tonight was actually Wayne ellington coming out

party as well. I forgot how many threes he had, but I just thought he met a huge eympatty. I actually like Wayne Ellington's defensive fit with this group, and I was pretty optimistic with it about it from the beginning. And the main reason why I thought people I thought people were overreacting to guys lighting up Wayne Ellington in isolation. And the reason why it is like like they would watch I can't even remember who it was that they

were playing, but they were watched. I think it was that young guard that plays for Brooklyn that's such an aggressive jump shooter. I'm blanking on his camp time. Yeah yeah, something like that. Anyway, Like it's like like, okay, yeah, he took a tough step back jump shot and he looked pretty comfortable and he knocked it down on Ellington. But it's like, the truth of the matter is what you what is far more valuable from a perimeter defensive

in Frank's scheme, is that they're in the right spot. Okay, Like if you when you have guys like Lebron and Anthony Davis on the floor, you can look at Ellington and you can be like, look, man, if you give up a pull up jump shot, we'll live with that. Or or if it's an elite shooter, like something like a like a just a straight up dead eye shooter, you will will live with Drives just chase him off the line and they can tell him like, hey, when you're on this spot of the floor, you're funnel to

the left. When you're on this spot of the floor, you're funnel to the right, because this is where the help is. Like you know, and in a weird way, Ellington has so much experience as a shooter that he

knows what shooters do. So he's actually shown quite a quite a bit of promise as a lock and trail defender over the course of the last couple of games um in my opinion, and a big part of that is just he he does that himself, so he understands the little tips and tricks that those guys used to get open and he can kind of counter those in

his own way. But again like yeah, like if in a playoff series in the highest leverage moments, I'm not sure you can play him because guys will attack him in isolation and it might cause things to break down.

But over the course of the minutes that he's actually going to play with this group, which will primarily be against reserves, which will primarily be you know, little short stance in a fifteen minute type of game, that he plays like, he's going to be able to do his job in Frank's system, Like what what happens with guys like Molikue Monk, although he's been better, is way more damaging.

Were like you just straight up get lost, you know, or like you're straight up not paying attention, You're you're you're you're straight up losing focus like that. You're not

gonna have to worry about that with Wayne Ellington. Wayne Ellington's problems are going to be physical like footspeed type of problems, and he's probably only going to see those, uh manifest as guys attacking him off the dribble and taking pull up jump shots and things like that, which again you can live with, you know what I mean.

And so I I like Wayne Ellington's fit as a defensive player, and I think it's gonna look even better, um when when he's playing alongside Lebron and a d when you get some of those really really really fierce Laker defensive lineups. But you know, as far as his movement shooting, you you hit the nail on the head man.

Like it's just it's it's so funny. Like on every level, Like I'm coaching high school basketball right now, we put in just we have all these you have to run super super basic sets with these high school kids because they're just I mean, they're the basketball version of brain lists. It's it's it's it's a it's a long process trying to teach these kids to play basketball. And like it's

funny because we just are our actions. You know. The guy, the guy that I coach with, you know, we played professionally overseas overseas for decades, super super smart guys point guard and like he just gets it. He gets all these little details and it's like he'll just he will never just have a pick and roll action. It's a pick and roll action with a guy coming off a

double screen on the other side. I mean, does that because knows these high school kids are gonna be on the other side of the floor, are going to be obsessed with guarding their man. And the truth is that works at every level. And having Wayne Ellington doing anything off the ball is going to occupy defenders even if he's not making shots. And it just in that, it just it's it's all about that cascading effect that we talked about. It's just what he does to open things

up for this team. Um makes up for whatever defensive limitations that he might have in isolation against the specific bad matchup, you know what I mean. And and again, if you're playing the Brooklyn nets and Cam Thomas is isolating you for pull up jump shots every time down the floor, you're probably gonna win because that's not that that's not offense, that's conducive to flow in a rhythm. It's it's it's actually stagnant. And and so I I I'm a fan of Wayne. You and I were both

heavy high on him right from the beginning. And uh, and I'm hopeful that he will get an opportunity to prove us right over the course in the next few months. Yeah, yeah, me too, man. I just think we haven't had this level of shooter and just looking at his name kind of next to our other guys that we you know,

are close to get close to getting back here. Well maybe not close, but we'll see Kendrick Nunn th h T. You know, adding Wayne Ellington to that as like a specialist, I think it's just really nice having you know, coming off your bench. We'll see when the reason gets back. But if you're starting, you know, if you're going full on into this a d at the five, which is what we were kind of sold, you know, on media

day before all the injuries came. And we'll never know if that that was the legit plan, but that's what we were kind of told. Uh. And you know, you have all these kind of guards coming off, probably not another not enough wings, but I'm really excited. Men, we're gonna get a bunch of these, Like you said, reinforcements are coming and we'll see when that happens. But I wanted to, like, I guess close on because Russell Westbrook,

the Russell Westbrook experienced um is. I think a lot of people have you know, said it's a roller coaster, like he had a couple of finishes tonight where I'm like, man, like you can do that every time. You know, when he had one, I think it was in the fourth I don't even if you remember it, like in transition.

I think he had it was lowry back and he just perfectly slowed down, you know, he was going full speed slowdown, went up with the left hand and finished nicely, and I think it put us put us down one UM when we were making our runback. There's just stuff like that and the others where it's just crazy. But the rest of Westbrook experience has been, you know, like you said, like I said, an up and down experience.

But tonight it was great and I kind of want to just stick on that point, like I thought, tonight he came through and he deserves his kind of flowers for that. Like I think this is a big time when like Miami is a damn good team like that, even without Jimmy Butler in the second half, they came in tonight seven and three. UM probably have the best

defense of the league. I'm not sure if the numbers support that just watching the games and to get a win, it's just huge, huge tonight, you can tell he's starting to get more comfortable, and that's key. Like comfort is such a huge, h h huge part of the game of basketball. It's like it's the perfect example of this is the the Houston Rockets a double header that we played. Like, you know, everyone wonders how you know, one night you play him and it's and then the next time you

play him, it's like in the one twenties. And a big part of that I thought was especially early in that game. You know the Lakers, just like Houston, feel comfortable. Yeah, you could tell yourself, oh, they're making contested jump shots, but there's a huge difference. There's a huge difference between a contested jump shot and a jump shot where a

jump shooter is uncomfortable. Huge difference. If if if you if Tyler Harrow catches the ball and I stick my hand up, it's a contested shot, but it's Tyler Harrow comfortable or was I in his It was I literally in his airspace the entire time he was moving around and as he's going up into the shot, he's nervous that I'm kind of going to knock the ball loose and and like do you see the difference of what I'm talking about that kind of like level of comfort

And this is this is what's so important about having Russ play with a d at the five or with

or with one big instead of two bigs. Having Russ feel comfortable with the basketball, helping him to when he when he's making that read trying to decide when to hit the hole, like because there were a lot of those like hit the whole moments with Russ where kind of reminds you of an NFL running back tonight, where it's like he's kind of moving slow and then he sees his area of opportunity and just slams the gap.

There was one that he had is either at the end of the fourth quarter overtime where he had a reverse lay up with his right hand where there was just a tiny opening and he just hit you just hit the opening and like you can tell he's starting to feel more comfortable. And again, to circle it back around, this is my big problem with starting big, whatever advantages you think you get out of it, compensating for the

last of forwards, lack of forwards, I get it. You know, trying to eat innings during the regular season, I get it, you know, defensive rebounding or whatever it is that Frank has tricked himself into thinking. Or the pluses that come with going big, they come with these big downsides, And

one of those big downsides is comfort. Russ has looked visibly uncomfortable in the offense for the most part this season, and you have to ask yourself how much of that is associated with lineups and how much of it is associated with his own limitations, And in my opinion, a good percentage of that comes with the circumstances he's been put in. And so what I really have liked is over the last couple of games in particular, Um you could tell tonight was actually a better example because the

last game was a little bit of a nightmare. But the point is that he's starting to get He's starting to understand and feel comfortable with where where he fits in in this offense, when he's supposed to hit holes, when he's supposed to be more passive, when his jump shots make sense when they don't. And this is why

I'm a big believer in going small. I would much rather have every game have my stars feel comfortable, which is going to lean into confidence, which is going to lead into everything else that comes from your stars playing well.

And even if it means that you'll lose the starter minutes, Like if you told me that this already lineup was going to get beat by four or five points every single time instead of winning by two or three, I'd take it if it meant that Russ got two layups, or Russ got too easy driving kicks, or Anthony Davis was posting up against a small forward on the wing that he got on a switch and he was able to bully him all the way to the basket for

an easy shot because there was space to operate. If even if you lose those minutes, which I don't think they would, I think they would win those minutes. I think the Lakers are better when they play that way.

But even if even if I had to grab Frank by the shoulders and shake him and say, listen, man, this is what's going to happen when you go this way like that, that that that's that's that to me, is the huge part of this that gets glossed over in that lineup decision is the comfort of your ball handlers and and so I I'm off my soapbox now. But that that's just kind of that's just kind of my two cents on the on on the Russ finally starting to feel comfortable, Yeah, for sure. And Frank obviously

liked the two big look. He likes the archetype of it. He likes the comfort of having another shot blocker about there. And I think we're going to continue to see it until probably Lebron gets back, or maybe one of the other wings gets back. I just think that's what he's gonna stick to. I thought DJ had like a good first shift and then you know this, this has been happening every game. In that third quarter, he just decides to stop, you know, having his stop revving his motor up.

It just it just completely dies in the third quarter. And maybe that's just who he is now. But you're right, you know they should. I keep saying, just lean into the rest ball. I think without Lebron, you have to kind of, you know, top your advantages on each other. And I think right now it's our offense week, Monk, get him as much shots as you can. Austin reeves,

I'll be okay with starting him. I thought we missed his defense and honestly, as a guy who chases over screens, Avery Bradley I thought did a great job on Tyler Hero kind of chasing him. Even even if Tyler Hero hit a bunch of contested shot. Did you see they made nine straight shots to him the third quarte to him the second quarter Miami, did I think going into halftime and a lot of them were like Tira Hero just you know of prayer shots going up over every

Bradley starting to talk ship and stuff. But again, like I think tonight was a great win. Russell Westbrook tonight. We always qualm about his numbers, but I mean twelve points, twelve rebounds, fourteen assists, Like the numbers are what they are, like though, that's incredible production to get, especially when Lebron's out and they probably points No. Twenty five points, twenty five points, twelve rebounds, fourteen assists, seven threes is still

a lot. Three for seven from three and again that's just him having the ball a ship tons so when they fly, when they go into those screens so disrespectfully, like kind of understand it is. Sometimes he's like I'm so wide open. He had a couple of corner threes, I think early, but you know, I can't really complain too much. Like the turnovers are going to be what they are all season. There's some you can live with.

Some of them are just like where he threw like a speedball pass at a D I think hit him in the head. Just some of those decisions are a little questionable, but again, like I kind of live with some of those if like the Russian is still there. And I thought in transition, he really pushed the pace, he got the team running, found the league, monk cutting want to play. That's just like stuff that he brings

to a team. And I thought his competitiveness tonight in that fourth quarter taking over, hitting big shots like he was, he took over and that's that's what they brought him here for. And he did his job tonight. He deserves

credit for them. The turnovers are still so confounding to me, and it's it's tricky because you know, like sometimes I don't actually think this, but sometimes I wonder just for a second, like if he's ever if he's actually making reads, or if he's just kind of a spas, and like it's a spas that just happens to occasionally make a play from the time to time, because that's how like confusing.

Sometimes he'll throw passes and you'll be like, I, honest to god, don't know what you saw there, Like like I'll rewind it and I'll watch the plague and I'll be like, what was he thinking like when he pulled the trigger on that past what was like the what was like the little calculation that his basketball brain was running like It's it's hard for me to to understand sometimes. Um. That said, what's so funny is he responded to, in

my opinion, his worst game of the season. Uh uh, I shouldn't say his worst game, his worst quarter of the season in that fourth quarter against Charlotte where he almost single handedly let them back into the game. You know, you would think he would respond to that by saying, like, I'm going to be more careful. Um, but he didn't. But what he did do is he added so much more good. You know, we talked about the good bad

scale with Russ. He just compensated for because I think he ended with like seven turnovers tonight, still like, but he compensated for that by just making a lot more good plays to cover for it. And the exciting, the exciting way to look at it, you know, in terms of projecting forward, as you can kind of look at this and say like, hey man, all you gotta do is eventually figure out a way to cut back on some of this bad while keeping some of this good. And now we're taking a Lebron in a D team

and adding this really really really positive player. You know that that potential is still there, but it's up to him to try to figure figure that part out because no one. Russ probably thought about valuing the balls with the basketball a hundred times coming into this game, but for whatever reason, he just can't do it. And you know, maybe that's some of that's Miami defense. Maybe some of that is just him being super super high usage as a result of the injuries. But he will eventually need

to figure that out. Yeah, I don't think you're gonna ever get like super low turnover Russ. Like the key there is when Lebron's back, right, Like that kind of fixes a lot that you talked about limiting the bad, Like limiting the bad is really just getting him out there with Lebron, where Lebron is kind of controlling more of the actions, where the game matters when it stops, when it's in half court situations, like that's really where

you see a lot of the turnovers. I think a lot of it with Russ, Like even like when you go back and just rewatch the games, like he does a lot of this where he drives with like no real intention of scoring. So he'll like drive getting the he'll get in the air to pass and you'll like turn the ball over there or you think a player will cut, or he'll have a like a player, he'll

try to get them a law. Like it's a lot of this, like trying to find teammates in their spots when they're really not there, like and those turnums are just not going to go away in my opinion. He had eight turnovers actually tonight, so he actually shortened him one but again like but again he paid uh uh. He played forty three minutes to night and with no backup guard. But the only other real shock trading guard on the team is Malik Monk who who had three

tourn overs as well. But you know, when that's the case, you're gonna get a whole bunch of turnovers. But he's a plus ten tonight, and I thought, like those turnovers are are what they are. They're not going away this season. That decision making is not going away. He has to be himself. We talked about this over the time, like Russ has to be Russ. And there's a good and a bad side to it. There's like a ying and

a yang, a given a pull. But you know tonight you saw the good and that kind of aggressiveness mixed with the stars mixed. When a b and Lebron are on their on their game like it's it can be a winning formula, especially if their defense holds up. Ye agree. Um, we've just over an hour now. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on tonight before we call it? Uh? No, I think that's it, man. I just I just want to have on the point like this is a this is a big time win, like this is has not

expected at all. I honestly thought they would loose tonight, Jason, You thought they would lose tonight, like beating this Miami team that's im playing so well. Uh, they hadn't lost before this. But I think they've just been very impressive this season, So I think this is a it's a big wain to build off of. Man Like They play Minnesota actually next on Friday, so that's another one you can kind of get. Minnesota has also been playing well this season. That's a winnable game, so you can kind

of build up it. I would say that this is the game that if this team ends up winning the title or even just goes on any sort of significant run here, this is the game. This is the game that people are going to look back at as the one as the turning point. Um. I feel like they kind of sort of discovered a little bit of an identity tonight. We talked about this earlier in the show.

Just like a team that if they can, if they can, if they can bottle up this effort in and replicate it, they've kind of become a team that can that can,

that can really really shoot the ball. So if you combine that with really consistent effort, and with everything that Lebron and Ned bring on the defensive end of the ball, this could all kind of shape together into something that's really exciting and and the and this could be the turning point, but we are going to call it and I we I After the Minnesota game, there's a bunch of extra league wide stuff that Roger and I want to talk about we want to talk about Alex Caruso

a little bit in the anecdote of this win. Yeah, don't want to discuss we'll get there. There was gosh, there was another big I wanted to talk about this concept of of people because Okay, we went too far here with this officiating thing to now it's like, now we're pretending like the current players aren't anywhere near as skilled as as as they look just because scoring numbers are down. I want to talk about that a little bit.

There's a bunch of there's bunch of different things like that we're gonna touch on and we'll kind of try to slam that into the postgame show, um after the Timberwolves game on what's that Friday. So it sounds like a planning. Thank you guys so much for the support. We are continue to be completely blown away by how many of you guys come to hang out with us. And I'm sorry we didn't get to any collars tonight. Just had too much exciting stuff to talk about after

a big win. But we will get to some callers on Friday. This will be on DASH Radio tomorrow morning at seven am, and it will be on our podcast feed here in about thirty minutes. Thank you again as always, and we will see you guys on Friday. Thanks everyone,