Hoops Tonight - Steph Curry & Warriors dominate, LeBron & Lakers fall, Clippers-Knicks, Celtics lose

Strain together multiple bets from the same game, or build your parlay across multiple games for a shot at making your payday even sweeter. Basketball is more fun when you're in on the action. Download the Draftking Sportsbook AP now and use code hoops. That's hops. New customers can get two hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly for betting just

five dollars only on Draftking Sportsbook with code hoops. The crown is yours gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net in New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why or text hope and Why to four six seven three sixt nine in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly

on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. License partner Golden Nugget, Lake Charles and Louisiana twenty one plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See Sportsbook dot DraftKings dot com, slash Basketball terms for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to hoo tonight here at the volume, Happy Tuesday, everybody.

which did not go particularly well. The Minnesota Timberwolves handed the Boston Celtics their first loss of the season, and what was a highly entertaining game capped off by an Anthony Edwards barrage in the fourth quarter. Then the Lakers and the Warriors in the tail end of the show.

We got the Lakers going on the road and losing back to back games last night to the Miami Heat, and then the Golden State Warriors notching a win on the tail end of a back to back in Detroit against the Pistons as Chris Paul gets his offense going all right, four games, eight teams, No mail back questions today, We'll be getting to those later in the week. You guys know the Joe before we get started, subscribe to

a brand new YouTube channel. It would mean a lot to me if you guys took a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under oops tonight. Social media, especially Twitter, but also TikTok and Instagram. I upload a lot of video clips on there, as well as show announcements during my film sessions. I'm basically putting

every interesting clip that I find on Twitter. It's a great way to kind of follow along with my film sessions and to get a visual representation of some of the things that we talk about on the show. And the last but not least, don't forget mail bag questions. Keep dropping those in the YouTube comments so we can hit them at the end of these shows. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Clippers Nicks close game for the most part throughout until a big Nis run in

the fourth quarter that put it away. Dante DiVincenzo in

particular sparked the run. Had a big play at the point of attack where he got a steal and then a run out layup over Russell Westbrook, big play where he was in the left corner on a missed three on the right wing where he crashed the offensive glass cott James Harden sleeping got the offensive rebound, made a kickoff pass, sprinted all the way around to the right wing, and then knock down a three, and then he made a tightly contested corner three over James Hardy contest later on.

Their defense has been excellent this season. Their second in defensive rating, ninth and half court defense according to Cleaning the Glass, second best team in the league right now in defending the paint. They're allowing the second fewest points in the paint per one hundred possessions, and they are first in rebounding. Make the mistake, this team is a royal pain in the ass to deal with in the

physicality areas of the game. It's their best trait. But they're three and four right now on the year in the standings in large part because of their issues on offense. They're twenty eighth in offensive rating, and it's all about shot creation. They're actually shooting the better at least from the standpoint of attacking closeouts in off ball situations than they did last year by a lot. Their tenth and spot up efficiency so far, it's not a question about

finishing plays. It's a question about getting the defense into rotation and that initial bit of shot making. And like both Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson came into the year just out of rhythm, out of shape, injured. I'm not sure what the deal was, but both of them kind

of came in a shell of themselves. Jalen Brunson kind of sort of got it together for a couple of games, but then he was had a rough night last night, and then Julius Randall has been like historically bad to start the year and then he finally gets it going last night, but it happens to be on the night when Jalen Brunson kind of doesn't have it going.

at least in terms of efficiency on the ball. So at the end of the day, this NIXT team And this is basically what I've been saying for years now. But you guys remember that was the big thing going into last year's playoff run. I said, as long as Randall and Brunson can play like superstars, they're very, very very good, and at various points over the last couple of years, both of them have done so. Jalen Brunson basically produced like a superstar in the playoffs last year.

That's why I had him so high in my player rankings, and Julius Randall at various points a lot last year, a lot three years ago, not so much the year in between, not so much in the playoffs last year.

But Julius Randall has that capability as well. And it's like a really nice, you know, kind of like CounterPunch to what Jalen Brunson provides in terms of his ability to match up attack and get closer to the rim, do work on the offensive glass, etc. So like again, I would argue that it's a very very good foundation this year for the Knicks, and even better foundation than last year. The Dante de Vincenzo pickup has been a

home run for their point of attack defense. In general, this team is just so much more physically imposing than they were last year, at least in terms of their production defensively, but they're just not getting enough out of their stars, and that's going to be the thing to keep an eye on over the course of this season for the Clippers. One pretty I didn't like the offense with James Harden. It was a lot of you know, I was talking with Sam Vessini from The Athletic about

this yesterday. We went for an hour hitting a bunch of stuff. I tweeted that link out, so I highly recommend you guys check that out. Sam's great, He's gonna be coming on our show at some point in the next couple weeks too. But we were talking about how James Harden is kind of obsessed with running pick and roll with centers. I think there's a couple of specific reasons why. First of all, he likes working with really good screeners. Second of all, he likes working against drop coverage.

And you're more likely to face a drop coverage against a big man than you are against a wing.

off the weak side. So there's like little details about that, but for the most part, it's gonna be a drop coverage with a big some kind of drop coverage with a big and it's gonna be some sort of like other coverage, a switch or a hedge and recover in some sort of any sort of guard guard screen or guard wing screen. So that's why Harden always kind of

targets big men in his ball screens. And he ran nineteen pick and rolls in this game, resulting in twenty three points super productive one point two to one points per possession. That's what James Harden does. I just would like to eventually see him run some of that stuff, particularly with Kawhi, but also Paul George and Russ as well, just running more of the guard guard action guard wing action.

Particularly Kawhi. He's so good at that like high post face up game that, Like I love the idea of almost you using him the way they used Embiid and like setting him up at the foul line. If teams run some sort of hedge and recover or drop, you're going to get wide open pocket passes to Kawhi at the foul line. If they switch it, you're putting a small onto Kawhi Leonard, Who's going to eat that person

alive at the foul line. Right If you blitz James Harden, you're giving a Kawhi Leonard a four on three on the backside. So like it's just really really difficult to guard that action, and so I'd like to see them do that. But all of of the of the nineteen pick and rolls, there was one PJ. Tucker ball screen in there, and then the rest of them were all the centers Zubac, Plumb Lee and Mussa Diabate. After Plumbing

got hurt, so that was just interesting. But like, for the most part, you can imagine if James Harden's going to run a big pick and roll with the center, everyone else is just kind of standing around, right, And you saw that with the starters, and then Tyler went out of his way to kind of like make sure that that James Harden got a bunch of possessions without any of the stars out there, so that he could just kind of play Harden ball, and you definite only

had some success there. Harden himself looked great five for eight on jump shots. I think that's a really good sign that he has his legs underneath him. He's There were a couple in there too that were like really tough step back jump shots, including a tough step back mid range jump shot. I think there's two mid range jump shots actually, So like those are all good signs

about where he's at in terms of his body. But I did I would like to see just a little bit more movement with the starters and then a lot more James Harden initiating in ball screens with the other stars in the ball screen action with him. One thing to keep an eye on the late game Hardened Snafus so There was a two plays in particular that stood

out during the Knicks run when things went bad. It was an eight point game at one point, and then I mentioned the Dante DiVincenzo offensive rebound out of the left corner that led to the three on the right wing. On that play, James Harden just straight up didn't box out, like he just kind of meandered into the lane and wasn't even paying attention and and Dante DiVincenzo low around

the backside for an offensive rebound. Both Harden and Russ are two of the least aware stars in the league from the standpoint of off ball tracking shooters, boxing out crashers from the perimeter or things like that. That's a weak point for them. We saw in the Laker Clipper game two times that Russell Westbrook just got beat back door because he just wasn't paying attention by D'Angelo Russell. We saw the miss box out in this particular game. There's

another play where like James Harden was guarding RJ. Barrett in a ball screen on the left wing and r J. Barrett's a lefty. I tweeted this link out so you could find this link on my Twitter feed. But you can see James Harden turn completely sideways, so his body is effectively perpendicular to Barrett, and he's kind of like leaning on the Hartenstein ball screen and he's got his

back turned to r J. Barrett's left hand. Now, I think what Harden's trying to do in this situation is basically get physically in position, basically with his hands on Hertenstein to quickly do a swim move to duck under the pick so he can meet r J. Barrett on the other side. Chances are they're probably in the scouting report going under against RJ. Barrett because he's shooting terribly

on pull up jump shots. I think he's like three for thirteen on pull up jump shots this year, right, So, like you, that's probably what they're going for.

good with the dirty work. Not that Paul George and Kawhi can't contribute there, but like their top tier shot creation makes it so that the top tier shot creation of the other players on the floor is less valuable and role player contributions are more valuable. That was the interesting direction that this went and all it doesn't mean it can't work. It just means for the same thing with the Suns with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, all

of these stars have to embrace the dirty work. James Harden and Russell Westbrook are going to have to be better defensive players, better rebounders, and jenneral in terms of their off ball awareness in order for this team to reach its its eventual ceiling. But again, first game sloppy. Two NBA teams aren't practicing a lot during the regular season, so not trying to overreact to anything.

entertaining regular season game. Tatum and Ant were just battling down the stretch of the game, talking shit to each other, getting each other's faces, guarding each other one on one. I thought Tatum was magnificent down the stretch in this game, the especially in the fourth quarter. He you know, it's interesting because there was a lot to kind of look at that was like Derek White was out right. So al Horford had to start and close the game, which

ended up being a big problem. Anthony Edwards basically attacked Al Horford in overtime. We're gonna talk about that. So, like from the basketball standpoint, it's a loss. There were some issues with the late game offense, again mainly in overtime, just shot selection, a little bit of like your turn, my turns. Like there was a Drew Holliday just didn't have it going and he just co opted an overtime possession to try to bully Mike Condly to the rim

and he missed the shot. But like that's the thing with Drew Holliday, Like he's kind of prone to those four for sixteen type of knights. You know, So a lot of negative with Boston, But I was so impressed by Jason Tatum strictly from the standpoint of how well he handled the Jaden McDaniels matchup. Because Jade McDaniels, in my opinion, is the best perimeter defender in the league. That's something that I've kind of come around on over

the course of the start of the season. And in addition to that, like the outstanding rim protection of that Minnesota Timberwols team, for him to consistently kind of get to his spots, he's put on so much muscle. It's another thing we talked about with Sam Vessini, this idea of like Tatum just kind of turning into a bigger and stronger player and how that has allowed him to not only compete defensively and on the glass, but to

dislodge players when he's fighting for a position. There were two players I put both of these on my Twitter feed where Tatum was able to like drop his shoulder and like bump Jaden McDaniels off and get really quality looks at mid range jump shots, which are like really reliable shots to go to at the end of games when things really bogged down and it's hard to generate openings.

So like really really impressive down the stretch from Tatum as he brought the Timberwolves kind of back into things after the excuse me, the Celtics back into things after the Timberwolves went up by seven or so in the fourth quarter. But then Ant just took over the game in overtime. It's funny because he got several of the same looks at the end of regulation on full of jump shots and he missed them, but then he got them in overtime and he made them all and like

a pretty consistent theme. Get into a ball screen and then take advantage of Val Horford being on his heels, either in a drop coverage or in a switch. Now again, in both situations, Al Horford has to give ground. And that's also in the scouting report. You'd rather see to pull up jump shot to Anthony Edwards. He's shooting really, really well. We're gonna talk about that in a minute, but in terms of the scouting report, that's just the

best option. If you can get Ant to settle, you've done your job as a defensive player.

They had a one toh one defensive rating, first in the NBA after last night, eighty two points per one hundred half court possessions. That's first in the NBA per cleaning the glass, fourth in paint points allowed per one hundred possessions, so they're locking down the paint. Sixty two percent opponent shooting in the restricted area, that's sixth best in the NBA. They forced the tenth most turnovers per one hundred possessions. They have allowed the tenth fewest three

pointers made per one hundred possessions. They have allowed the third lowest opponent three point percentage. They are ninth in rebounding, so they're basically top ten in every major defensive category. The one area of opportunity is transition defense. They're in that bottom third kind of in that like fifteen to twenty range, So that's the one area of opportunity. Not to be not too shocked by that, just simply by the fact that they're playing a two big system, especially

with Nasried kind of cycling through there. So with two bigs on the floor most of the time, you're gonna struggle in transition just in terms of foot speed. But they've been really, really good defensively. Now offense, you don't need them to be great if they're gonna be that great on defense, you just need them to be good enough, and then you need aunt to carry you home and

crunch time. Eighteenth in offense, that's been good. That's the identity right all world defense, good enough on offense with aunt carrying you home. I told you guys before the season, I really wanted to see Anthony Edwards weaponize his driving, rim, pressure, gravity, whatever you want to call it, more this year as a passer, and it was really encouraging to me to see him make a couple of really good late game

reads to Jada McDaniels on the weak side. There was one on the left wing where he was or left corner where he was isolating Chris tops Porzingis and got him to leave his feet on a pump bake, ripped through to the right into the middle and hit Jada McDaniels in the shooting pocket for a big time three

point shot on the right wing. And then there was another one that actually tied the game lad where he just drove hard to his right and Jada McDaniels was in the corner and he drew strong side corner help, which you're definitely not supposed to do for the Celtics.

But again, that's the type of a ring gravity than Anthony Edwards has easy swing pass to Jada McDaniels for another big three pointer and so like that to me is a great indicator of just some of the bigger lessons that Anthony Edwards is learning about how to make the game easier on himself. Like, dude, you're a freak. You're one of the best players in the league, and

everyone's going to overreact to what you're doing. So if you can weaponize that to make good reads and generate quality shots, it's going to help your team in the big picture. And then it kind of helps you get single coverage opportunities more frequently laid in the game for you to be able to knock down shots. Jay McDaniel's big late game isolation move on Christops Porzingis into the lane.

Christops kind of tripped. It looked like he stepped on Gobear's foot as he was kind of backpedaling into the lane. But that's kind of thing, you know, like you take take him off the dribble and get him into traffic where it's a little bit more difficult for him to navigate. And Jada McDaniels, this is really good with that little pop shot, that little kind of short range pull up jump shot. He's seven for thirteen this year on catch and shoot jump shots and six for twelve on pull

up jump shots. So getting some big time offensive contribution from Jada McDaniels and with everything he does defensively, that's really really exciting on the Celtics front. Again, a little bit of an example of what they can deal with in terms of a lack of depth when one of

their five core guys gets hurt. Not that Horford's not a good depth piece there, but he's certainly a drop in terms of overall athleticism, right, And like, no matter who they put in that fifth spot when guys are out, it's going to be someone who's either a really good offensive player with defensive limitations or a guy who's a decent athlete that has offensive limitations. And it ended up

being the entry point for Anthony Edwards to target. So it just goes to show you how health is going to be an important factor for the Celtics this year. Really really encouraged by Jason Tatum's play overall, just continuing to play like an MVP.

before Jada McDaniels tied it. It's actually a great example of, like, you know, just how easy offense can be for the Celtics when Tatum's involved, and how they don't necessarily have to generate rim pressure through the ball.

So again, like no one's going undefeated this year, it's a tough road game against the best defense in the league and one of the best young players in the league. Celtics dropped this one, but I thought they impressed in a lot of ways along the way. In sports, the score or board doesn't tell the full story, but Netflix does.

Stories about dads who happen to be world class quarterbacks, untold tales of athletes you thought you knew, the heart racing, pressure for the heart soul, and survival of the multi billion dollar business of f one. Stories about college kids who were given a last chance at redemption. David Beckham's meteoric rise to not only becoming a global soccer phenomenon, but also becoming one of the biggest celebrity couples in pop culture. From upsets to injuries, from comebacks to victories,

we get to see it all with Netflix Sports. These are the stories that turn us all into fans and give everyone something to cheer for, to feel for, to hold your breath for, and to get up out of your seat for, whether you're a diehard fan or you're brand new. Which shows like f One, Drive to Survive, Quarterback, Full Swing, Untold Beckham, and so many more. Netflix has the stories for every type of fan. Netflix turns us all into fans.

Andrew Wiggins is in a little bit of slump. He's averaging eleven points per game after averaging seventeen the previous two years for Golden State, shooting just eighteen percent from three. I went on with Steiny and Guru in San Francisco this morning and we were talking about it, and they asked me what they think is going on with Andrew or what I think is going on with Andrew Wiggins,

And I don't really see too much schematically. It's just to me the kind of convoluted nature of the rotation, as Moses Moody, and Andrew and Jonathan Kaminga have been getting more minutes, even Gary Payton kind of getting a lot of the closing reps instead of Andrew Wiggins, so his minutes are a little bit more sporadic, a little less consistent, and I think that, in common with Kaminga,

just truly playing well has affected his confidence. Like once again, down the stretch of that game, big play Steph and Jonathan kmena pick and roll on the left wing.

that we're accustomed to seeing from him. Right I don't think it's necessarily a big picture concern. It's just something that's happening right now and something to keep an eye on. Over the course of the season. Andrew Wiggins was the second best player on the championship team. He needs to get his confidence back doesn't really matter if kaminga blossoms. If you're starting three, man is a shell of himself.

So something to keep an eye on. We just talked yesterday about Chris Paul as a score, right, So they lose to Cleveland, and a big factor in that was the twin rim protectors sagging back into the paint. They forced the I think Golden State shot something crazy like twelve for thirty one in the paint and got absolutely demolished in the paint on both ends of the floor. Right, So it was like a big problem in that particular game.

And that, to me is the closest thing we've seen in this regular season to what the Lakers series was like rail rim protection ignoring your non shooters sagging into the paint and then top locking and denying all of your off ball action, which is going to force guys to back cut into your rim protection.

you got Chris. You got Chris for the top tier rim protection teams that are going to be a bad matchup for the Golden State offense as another guy who can score the damn basketball and take pressure off of Steph Curry, who can get a little fatigued when he's the only guy on the team who can put the ball in the basket, right, And so that's just something

to keep an eye on, right. Well, Chris last night in the Pistons game kind of got it going as a scorer six for nine from the field for seventeen points. More in line with what you're hoping for in production from Chris. Had a huge late bucket on a face up in the right corner. Thought it was big time that Steph kind of trusted him and kind of prodded

him to shoot the ball. It goes to show you that Steph wants this, he wants Chris to try to get some buckets and ended up elevating over the top and knocking down a big mid range jump shot out of the short corner. I thought that was an encouraging game from Chris Paul. And then the crunch time defense that was an issue a lot in the even though they were winning, that was an issue where they were kind of going bucket for bucket down the stretch of

these games. And then finally Clay gets the last shot, makes it. Finally Steph gets the last shot and makes it. Well, last night, eighty defensive rating in crunch time against Detroit that got stops. That's a good encouraging sign of where the Warriors are heading in their crunch time defense. The Piston's not gonna talk too much about it right now, obviously, just with the jam Pack, Slate didn't have too much

time to dive into them today. I do want to eventually hit on them because they've got three young players that have been pretty exciting this year. Asar Thompson has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the league early in the season. Obviously extremely small sample size, but he's just an unbelievably laterally quick athlete with the uncanny

ability to navigate screens. Kay Cunningham has looked like the giant playmaking forward that we've all kind of hoped he would be, and then Killian Hayes is having a really good season in terms of playmaking and taking care of the basketball. Shot the ball well yesterday as well, which is encouraging because he hasn't shot the ball well in his career.

make it a close game late. It's one eight, one o seven with two and a half minutes left, and then neither team scored the rest of the way. I've mapped out every single possession here to kind of let you guys know, you know, separate process and results, because a lot of times people overreact to the results when basketball has a lot of you know, kind of variation in it, and sometimes you can do everything right and

then not get a good result. And as long as your process is good and you continue to replicate that, then over a larger sample size you'll get more positive outcomes. Right, So first possession one eight, one seven and two and a half minutes left, Lebron James had a post up in an and one that ended up getting I think it was against Josh Richardson that ended up getting the game back to one point. So on the very next possession, the Heat run a ball screen action the Lakers defend

did extremely well. Tyler Harrel throws a bad lob pass that hits the top of the backboard and the Lakers get the steal. Right, the Lakers push and transition and get a wide open three for Lebron James on the left wing. He misses it, okay, so great defense for the Lakers to force a turnover wide open three on the other end they miss okay. Next possession, Jimmy Butler challenges Christian Wood at the rim. Christian Wood gets a really good contest and he forces an air ball. Another

excellent defensive possession that gets a quality stop. The Lakers pushing transition again. Kyle Lowry steps in front of Lebron and takes a charge. Kind of a winning play that Kyle Lowry's made throughout his entire career. Right they go back down the other end, Kyle Lowry shoots a pull up three over Lebron. Lebron blocks it. It's another air ball, right. The Lakers go down the other way and Austin kind of pump takes a pump fake three point shot, tough shot,

really well contested. I think it was Tyler Harrow on defense in that possession or really well contested.

runs a ghost screen with Lebron and Kyle Lowry. I believe or no, Tyler Harrow is guarding Austin enhdged hard on Lebron, which gave Lebron the opportunity to throw an easy behind the back pass. Hits Austin right in the shooting pocket and it is a wide open three, and he just misses it. He just misses it right. So then the Heat go down and they forced Bam to travel at the foul line. They have him surrounded by three bodies. Another really good defensive possession for the Lakers.

Lakers call time out. They appear, according to some internet slewthing to draw up a play to get Cam Reddish at three in the week side corner. Basically, Lebron beats Jimmy Butler with a hard right hand drive, knowing he's gonna draw help he does. He draws Bam at a bio and help. Lebron throws an absolutely perfect pass in the corner to Cam Reddish, hits him right in the shooting pocket and he just misses the three. So, you know, impressive win for the Heat because you followed the game plan.

You left the right guy open late on that Cam reddis possession. Right. We're gonna talk more about that late game possession from the same point of the Lakers in a few minutes. But you followed the game plan, You did the things that you have to do to beat the Lakers. Took advantage of Anthony Davis being out of the game late, built a big enough lead for you to be able to withstand that late run and get

a win the matchup. Attacking Jimi Hawk has nine points on five post ups in ISOs so far this year, two for three on handoffs as well, so he's doing a really nice job in the Heat system, getting downhill and using his strength to get to little shots close to the basket. He is three for thirteen on unguarded threes though, that's one thing to keep an eye on. With Iime two wins in a row for the Heat, They're up to three and four now twenty sixth in

offense all shot creation stuff. They're twenty fourth in pick and roll efficiency, twenty first in ISO efficiency. They're actually shooting the ball well in spot up situations this year, at least attacking closeouts. It's just their shot creation is always going to be an issue until whenever they decide to make a trade and get more offensive firepower in the room. We are going to do a deep dive on the Miami Heat soon. I'm not going to go too much further on them, or not going to go

any further on them today. On the Laker front, the final play, so again, you have to think first of all Lebron James. Over the course of his career has there a certain benefit of the doubt, especially when it comes to making the right play. Like similar situation against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play in game last year, Lebron makes the exact same play, a driving kickout pass to Dennis Schroeder in the left corner.

it to christian Wood underneath the basket. Well, Haywood high Smith was right behind christian Wood and could have easily just thrown his arm up and reached from behind and poked that ball free. You throw a lob up at the basket, it's a high degree of difficulty pass. Maybe christian Wood isn't prepared for it because maybe he's boxing out. Maybe you know, maybe high Smith pushes him a little bit as he jumps up and he fails to kind

of gather the basketball. You know, I saw some people saying like, oh, Lebron should have just shot it in hopes that christian Wood gets a gets a offensive rebound. Well, Bam sold out on the closeout. There's a chance that he shoots that and just gets blocked, right because Bam, like Hard helped coming over. I thought, maybe, okay, what if Lebron spins off of Jimmy on that hard drive and takes a little right shoulder fade. Yeah, I would

probably like to see him do that as well. But Kyle Lowry was there on the left wing, and if Lebron spins back, Kyle Lowry very likely doubles and it still leads to a kickout for three in all likelihood. Right, So, like at the end of the day, you generated a wide open three, And the only thing that I would say schematically that I would do different is that's textbook

lowman help. Right, So when Lebron beats Jimmy, Bam comes over off of christian Wood and Hard helps, high Smith has to come in and basically start to contend physically with Christian Wood underneath the basket. Right, that leaves the lowman. The lowman high Smith is guarding Cam Reddish in the quarter. It's an easy kickout pass.

is healthy? No, So, like I think it's one of those things where obviously a loss is a loss. Three and four is objectively bad for the Lakers at this point. We're gonna talk about it more here in a minute.

But like, I wouldn't get overly hung up on a game where Anthony Davis was out, you know, toring excuse me, Jared Vanderbilts out, Ruy Ho Chimura's out, gave Vincent's out, Jackson Hayes's out, Anthony Davis goes down with an injury, so like you're psychologically hurt by that, and you claw all the way back to get it within one to

two and a half minutes left. You play perfect defense and basically shut the heat down on all five possessions down the stretch, while you generate three wide open threes and the other two possessions were a pump fake three that Austin Reeves is capable of making and a Lebron transition drive that Kyle Lowry took a charge that usually

amounts to more than a point per possession. So you executed well, you did everything you were supposed to do, and you just lost, which is something that can happen in one small sample size, especially when you spot the other team a twelve point lead in the fourth quarter.

So I think, like, really, hyper focusing on that one possession and one decision from Lebron in an eighty two game season, especially with his pedigree, is just missing the bigger picture for what was actually kind of an encouraging late game flurry from the Lakers, who continued to play pretty damn well when Lebron James is on the floor this season. But that said, the Lakers do have some issues. I want to quickly kind of jump into him real

quick defensive rebounding. They give up the third most second chance points allowed in the league per one hundred possessions. That's a problem. They're giving up eighteen points per game second chance points. But again, all the forwards are out. Ruy Hachimura is out, Jared Vanderbilts out, Torrian Prince was out until this game.

at least not a significant issue. Like when they're healthy and they have Jared Vanderbilt, Ruey Hotchumer out there, I think they're going to be in a lot better shape on the glass right. Secondly, guard athleticism, there was a play I clipped and put on there where Jimihawk has came off of a dribble handoff and Dilo met him right around the semi circle and him A just pounded into a spin move and just knocked Dil out of the way and just made an easy right handed layup.

There was another him Mayhawk has drive on Austin Reeves in the first half where he kind of got into the lane, embodied him and made a little hook shot over the top. The Jimmy Butler was attacking Austin in the post as well. That's an issue, and like there's something to be said about And this is why I think all signs point to a D'Angelo Russell trade at some point during the season. You can't have both both of your guards be skill on ball shot creators that

struggle in the athleticism parts of the game. Not Austin's actually better than Delo at both. He's a better shot creator, he's a better off ball player, and he's a better defensive player. So like to me, rather than having that redundancy,

you move D'Angelo Russell for an athletic guard. That's why I've pitched that stupid uh D'Angelo Russell and Ruey Hotcha Mura in a first round pick for Demarta Rosen in Alex Caruso trade because it brings in that athlete that you can put next to Austin in Alex Caruso, that can be like a legitimate defensive weapon that can hang better in those areas of the game, right, and then Demarta Rosen gives you an option if you can play the three or maybe he gets in there, and even

Demarta Rosen will have a better chance to contend physically in those situations if Alex comes off the bench.

work role. If they can get that, then everything's they'll build do better on the defensive glass, they'll do better at the point of attack, it'll simplify the order of operations. Like, they're just better when Austin plays too. I put the numbers today, but like they they were down twelve when DLO went out of that game and Austin and Lebron brought them back. You know, like they were just spamming ghost screens down the stretch of the game, right, So

like and Lebron balls setting ball screens for Austin. So like on the season this year, when Lebron and Austin are on the floor with d LO off, they're plus like twenty something points per one hundred possessions. I posted that set on Twitter as well, So like they're just better when Austin and and Lebron run the show anyway, So I think that's the move. Eventually in the long run,

they're gonna have to move off of DLO. Good player, just a redundancy on this Laker roster, and and and just kind of doesn't make sense to keep on board. The next big weakness. There's two other weaknesses I put down weeks at shooting. They missed those three wide open looks at the end of the game. They're just not shooting well. They're one of only two teams in the

NBA shooting below thirty percent from three this season. Getting Ruy Hatcha Mura back will help, But like at the end of the day, guys just have to start shooting to their capability. D'angela Russell is shooting twenty eight percent from three. He shot forty one percent last year. Austin Reeves shooting thirty one percent from three. He shot forty percent last year in the regular season, forty four percent in the playoffs. Gabe Vincent is shooting seven percent from three.

He shot thirty eight percent in the playoffs last year from Miami. Cam Reddish fifteen percent from three. He was thirty two percent last year. Max Christy thirteen percent from three. He was forty two percent last year. So like, these are good shooters that are just missing shots. And then even their average to below average shooters are not making anything. So like some of this is like got It's easy to sit on your couch and be like, oh, the

Lakers don't have shooting. The Lakers don't have shooting. D'angela Russell, Austin Reeven, Gay, Austin Reeves, and Gabe Vincent are good shooters. Next, Christy was a good shooter last year, Ruby hotch Murrow was a good shooter. Last year's shooting okay this year already though. But the rest of those dudes just aren't making shots that they used to make. And until they do, it's gonna leave points on the board on the offensive end of the floor. It's going to be an issue.

The Anthony Davis injury, I have not seen a report yet as of four point fifty Mountain time today, but it is very poor timing because Gavee. Vincent's already out, Ruby Hotchimura is already out, Jared Vanderbilt is already out.

into that game. They have enough size and athleticism to at least contend with some of the smaller teams. They'll struggle in specific matchups, but it is more important than ever.

per game. He also is averaging two point eight stocks, steals plus blocks per game over that span as well. He is now up to sixty three percent true shooting for the season. He's third in the league in restricted area makes, behind Giannis and Zion. Like he always is, He's shooting seventy nine percent in the restricted area, which

is higher than both of those guys. Is also up at a point per possession on jump shots, both in catch and shoot and pull up jump shot situations, and he's ten for fourteen from the floor in the clutch, second in the league in total clutch points scored. So again, even with everything that's gone wrong this season and the Lakers have not been good, I predicted Lakers would win

a lot of regular season games. It has not been a good start at three and four, and it could get worse with all of the injuries, to be clear, but Lebron being this good literally matters more than any of that because all of the other problems were fixable. The same core Lakers players were very good last year, So I am aside from the Dennis Schroeder loss right, so I'm not worried about their ability to eventually play very good basketball. They are going to play very good basketball.

It's just a matter or it's just a matter of when, not if, and getting the guys healthy and out there right.

float the ship in the short term. Right, But at the end of the day, like the one big piece that was unfixable because I did not see a possible trade and I didn't see any sort of free agent signing that could address it was over the top shot making. You needed Lebron James or Anthony Davis to play like a bona fide half court superstar, which neither of them were able to do on the offensive end in the playoffs last year. Lebron looks like he's on track to

potentially be that guy again this year. If he is, that solves so many of the Lakers problems. So even with as poorly as this season has started, that's a very very encouraging start for Lebron James.