Kings/Lakers Postgame Spaces

least bit surprised. I remember tweeting in the middle of one of their last handful of games that this team has been trying so hard to tell us exactly what who they are and exactly what they're made of, um, this entire season, and all we've done, for the most part is make excuses for them and talk about all the things that are that have been working against them. And here they are tonight, not completely healthy, but a lot more healthy than they've been in a long time.

And all of those same character traits that you saw when they when they were struggling, when they had good reasons to struggle, all those character flaws are still there. Um, And I think that that's not a coincidence. And uh, obviously Rogers is dealing with He's with some buddies. He's having the friends givingything tonight, so he's gonna hang out with us for a minute. But our good friend and they has agreed to help us all try to come to terms with what we've been seeing, and so I

really really appreciate you guys. Roger, I suppose we should start with you first of all. Buddy, um, we're able to watch my much of that game. Where's your head at right now? Yeah? So I'm hosting a little friends giving here, and uh, I told them that the game would be over pretty soon. And we went to the first overtime, and then the second overtime, and then a third overtime. And it's super frustrating to watch this, um as you're trying to have a good time. I don't

know what the hell was going on. We played the big line up again. We started DeAndre Jordan, which to me is insanity. This felt like another game where Frank Vogel just might be gone after this one. His first sub in the overtime, I believe was Avery Bradley Darren Darren Fox got whatever he wanted. I thought in the late game, just easy pick and rolls, little fade away jumpers. I thought, Buddy, Heels got to open a lot. I

don't know. This was super frustrating and watch as you're trying to just have a good time with other people. But yeah, man, this is frustrating. We're just not a good team right now. It's a lot of jump shooting. We're playing way too slow. We went up twelve and then just continue to walk the ball up the floor. Russell Westbrook, Lebron a D just a lot of slow basketball, no sense of urgency, right and I feel like that's been the identity of this team. It's been just a

no sense of originy type of team. And that's what I felt happened in the late came offense went up twelve and just started walking the ball up the floor. These these off the offense has just come to Lebron post ups a D. You post ups, no no offside actions there on the action we run as a little pin screen. But when you just throw us in the corner and you're running Lebron adies screen and roll, there's no space for them. That's what I thought really happened tonight.

So I won't be on here too long. I appreciate youven A for coming up here. Jason will appreciate you holding it down, But I just want to come up and say those that those few things, because I thought that was super frustrating just watching the whole game kind of play out. You could tell that Sacramento never thought they were out of it. Um, Terris Halliburton, Buddy Heal, Darren Fox felt like they can get it whatever they want on the floor. That's why. That's what I felt.

What happened in A in overtime and the fourth quarter. Yeah, I thought the theme of the game was settling UM, and this is what I wanted to kick to Uve and A just to get to get your thoughts, because, like you know, there's been a lot of talking about effort and focus with this group, right, and you know, effort and focus manifests in a bunch of different ways. And it's not just defense, and it's not just rebounding,

and it's not just running the floor and transition. One of the biggest ways that effort will manifest itself is rim pressure, especially with this group, this particular core group of Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and Lebron And we've made so many excuses for them based on spacing, and a lot of them have been legitimate, And to be clear, I do absolutely think that's starting DeAndre Jordan's factors in to that to setting the tone of settling. However, even

when they did have the space to operate. I thought all three players, not really Russ, I'm gonna get I'm

gonna let Russ off the hook here. But I thought, particularly a D and Braun, we're so so, so so so quick to settle instead of using the taking the energy that it takes, the effort that it takes to use your physical tools to beat your man to the basket even if it's not for you, and least just to collapse the defense, and to try to generate higher shot quality, um than they What was your impression of just the general rim pressure that we were getting from

Lebron and a D or the lack there of. Yeah, So, before I answered the question, I was just gonna say, I'm not disappointed at the results of this game. And I think when I answer your question, it'll it'll explain

why I'm not disappointed. Um So, I think what you mentioned about the spacing and DeAndre, like, that's obviously an issue, right, um, but this game was a game even when a D went to the five, or when they had one big man like Dwight, when Dwight was like the only big on the floor, there was a lot of moments where I thought, you know, like even Braun probably had some opportunities to just kind of go to the rim and and get himself easy buckets, and um, it wasn't there,

you know, like it was a lot of settling for jump shots, like you said. And one of my concerns not concerns, but it's just like one of my observations has been that when we play a D at the you know, all the rage has been you know, our defense isn't very good, our rotations aren't very good. But it's been so surprising to see how much a D doesn't go to the rim when he's at the file.

And if you watch these these three overtimes, and you watch every single time a D went to the rim, whether it was Russ running the pick and roll with him or if Braun running the pick and roll with him, what happened. It was usually a layup or it was

like an and one opportunity or something like that. And it has been very, very fascinating, And you know, I have my own personal conspiracy theory, but it has been fascinating to see this team do the exact opposite of whatever the lineup that's on the floor is meant to do, you know, like you space the floor so now everybody should be attacking the rim, but then they all just start shooting jump shots, and then when the floor is packed,

we're trying to attack the rim instead of just finding shooters. So I think I think if you look at rim pressure throughout the course of just this game alone and you see how the Lakers were kind of playing in the opposite direction of whatever that line it was, I think that should tell you something about just kind of where some of these players are at as it relates to whatever offense vote was running. Yeah, this last thing

and I'll kind of go off here. Um, I was hoping they went to more Lebron Russ pick and roll late. I thought it was just way too much that Lebron a D pick and roll with Russ in the corner. There's just no space even when Lebron even when a D s at the five, you have Mellow at the four with Malik Monk, you throw Russ in the corner. There there's just no space. Um, there's they zoned right up and it just led to a lot of switching

right you. They had a little bit of a Lebron a D pick and roll, the King switched that and you had Lebron attacking Marvin Bagley, which I think is a matchup he likes. But it led to a lot of just step back jumpers. He had a lot of faded way jumpers in the third quarter, in the fourth quarter. But I thought that was just bad process because eventually those shots didn't go a d as well, right, a

lot of jobs, a lot of jabs type jumpers. And don't know if the offense was totally issue tonight, I thought defensively as well, Darren Fox again got to the rim. Halliburton got what he wanted. Buddy Hield was able to get free. He had a bad shooting night, but late I thought he got shots he wanted. There's just something missing here. And to me, like DeAndre Jordan played the first eight minutes of the of the game that went out, Yeah,

I don't know how he got extend that. I was I was like, wait a second, it's past six minutes. How did he how did you play more? Right? And we we yeah, And there's just some negative energy that comes with that. It's so counterintuitive to how Russ wants to play. He doesn't get in rhythm. There's no speed to him, there's no there's no juice right, and that's

how Russ wants to play. And I thought that kind of set the tone for the game there, and when DeAndre and when you have DeAndre Jordans just playing those minutes, I thought I just set a tone for the energy of the game. But I don't know, man, his team needs to figure things out. Like I know Kendrick Nuns out, I know Trevor reads out, Austin Reaves is out. They got to figure out how they want to play because this up and down five basketball is just not gonna

work again. They got that big winning indeed, Anna Lebron had a lot of step back jumpers late, but again it felt like the offense just devout to that. So this is a tough game, man. But I appreciate you guys. I'm a lot off here. I just want to say my two cents there, Jason. I appreciate you hosting is Bener. I appreciate you co hosting from me. I'm gonna get back to this friends giving. Appreciate everyone coming on listening uh to this one. I'm allowed off on this one, Juddy,

and we will see you. We will see you on Sunday. Appreciate that I thought there was such an interesting dynamic and the different types of closing, right, and Lebron has been famous for for for both of these uh in

large volume throughout his career. Like there's a difference between Lebron when he's closing as a guy who's running or spamming and action and making really high quality decisions out of it, and then the Lebron I'm just trying to eat the shot clock every single time, and then as soon as I get I'll just I'll call you get a switch on one of their big guys, and then I'm gonna run the clock down and I'm going to take some stupid you know, fade away or pull up three,

you know, Like there's it's like aggressive closing versus passive closing, if that makes sense. And to your point the A, because this is the interesting part here, I I genuinely believe, and I'm assuming this is your conspiracy theory, but I genuinely believe that Lebron and A D are both capable of attacking the room more than they have been. And if you read A sorry, that's where if you read this tape and before, if you recorded this game and before,

and let's say I hadn't watched this game. This is just my opinion. Like, if you recorded this game and you sent it to me, said, nay, before you watch this game, I want to tell you something. A D and Braun are trying to get Vogle fired. That's all. I want you to have your mind when you're watching this game before you watch it. If you watch this game, how can you not walk away from this game thinking to yourself that Braun and A D have checked out

on genuinely. Yeah, Like, there's nothing about this game or the effort that they played with in this game that makes me like, I know they did some flashy stuff and once and stuff like that, but there's nothing in this game that makes me think that they're committed to playing under Frank Mobile this season. Nothing at all, absolutely not. Yeah,

I'm on the same page with you. And it's funny because it's gonna be really annoying when this change does come down and then they both walk back in because this has not been Frank atall. Frank. Frank has not been perfect. As we've said so many times, Frank has not been perfect. However, a good a good portion of this is Lebron and A D in Cruise Control. Just chilling.

They literally look like when the the D one level talent goes up to the wreck Jim to play pick up, and obviously he could get to the rim anytime he wants, but he's just taken stupid jump shots in fade Away, it's just because it's fun and he's not trying to get hurt, and he's just trying to get a sweat. And that's literally what it looks like when you're watching

these guys. But I thought it was interesting because they got a huge lead at the start of the fourth quarter with a really interesting line up with Lebron and Dwight and then three shooters with Mellow and lak Monk and with Wayne Ellington, and then at the end of the game they got back into the game because of stagnant offense, a lot of bad shots and bad defense.

Then you go to O T, same thing. Lebron actually makes a couple jump shots, they get up by seven, same thing goes back into that stagnant passive closing goes away. So then in double O T they go to Russ and Russ is at least running pick and roll with a D so they're starting to get downhill and uh, and there was one play where it broke down and he ended up in like the chaos and suing where he hit Lebron right under the basket for dunk. And then there was the other one where he hit a

d for the layup and the foul. So they were getting better stuff. So then um, then at the end of o t when they're down, because I think they got down by three, Lebron gets the ball back in his hands and you could tell he's like, I'm not settling anymore, and back to times, back to back times, gets to the rim, it takes Alex lenn finishes and one with the left handed layup or the little floating or floater off the yeah, and then and then he drives on Marvin Bagley in the right corner and it's

like you're literally watching the game, You're like, where is this? Then, like you literally have had those same matchups in this game and you've just been unwilling to do it. And and honestly, I thought it was a basketball god's kind of thing because the shot that he took at the end of it was either the first overtime or second overtime. That three from the top of the key at the buzzer, couldn't he He came about as close as you can

come to making that shot without making it. It was dead on straight and he just left it a tiny bit short. But it's one of those things where it's like, no, dude, you're not getting that tonight. You don't get you don't get to be the hero after you just seem like he was okay with you? Is he like he was okay with being like in that position, like if it was a tie game, you know, like obviously we don't think that people game ahead like that, or bron games

ahead that far and he just win the game. But it's just like, no, he lives for those kind of moments to to some degree, to be able to game winners um in front of a home crowd and stuff like that. But I just, you know, we we're talking about their offense and over time, but I'll be honest, they should not have even made it to the third overtime. They were giving, they were giving, but but they were giving.

Buddy Healed like opened. So Sack was running like this three man weave with Alex Lenn Buddy Healed and Darren Fox trying to get like one of the three Lakers that was trying to defend it out of position, and the goal was to get Buddy healed the wide open three. So the play that I think Buddy ties the game up, I forgot which if it was the first overtime or second overtime. Um, Braun Buddies the time as Braun, and

so Braun is on Buddy the entire time. But then like the final action of whatever set that they were running, like Braun just leaves Buddy just he doesn't even bother to get him, and Monk is on alex Lynn and then Braun just watch looks at the leak and Malik like trying to get past Alexland to defend that defend Buddy's three, and Buddy just drains it and just walks back to the other way. And I was in a group chat with somebody else, but I just messaged him.

I was just like, oh, Bron just gave up on this play. He was just like, all right, I'm not chasing this guy anymore for the rest of this possession. So whoever makes it, if he makes it, he makes it whatever. But that mental process of doing that of like you know, like how he did close out on the alex Land three that tied up the game. Like I was just like, you know, we weren't doing that last game. We weren't doing that in the Indiana game. Like in the India game, he was very crisp and

stuff like that with his rotations. Everybody was. But it's just like that last if he closes out on that shot, maybe Alexland doesn't make that three, or maybe he changes and yeah, and the Lakers win that game. You know, um, And the reason why I give if you give the contrast, you know that the dearon Fox, they left time run

out right, how did that second overtime? If you watch that play, He's got Ross on him, and they've been trying to get Malik Daron Fox on Malik because Aaron could get that jumper off in a one on one. So Russ actually fights through the screen so that Deeron doesn't get you know, he doesn't get the matchup that he wants late in the game, and then you know that Fox has like a brain fart and passed it away and then time expires, be going and triple over time.

But it's like that kind of small effort, you know what I mean? Like it's it's just not there, um, especially on the defensive end. Um. And it it looked everybody's been complaining about Ellington Malik Us playing Avery Bradley, like, you know, the guys that are not offensively inclined. But if Broun and a d aren't going to be engaged on the defensive end unless somebody's literally shooting the ball in their face, who, like, who else can you blame?

You know? And that's just my opinion that I don't. I can't get mad at any I can't get mad at Malik for not being able to defend Daron Fox, because that's not what he should be in there for to begin with, you know, like we shouldn't be allowing him to get switched off of him so easily. But

you know that that's what happened. I thought talk about it dictated all all the all the overtime, second and third Yeah, oh no, it kind of felt like this pseudo inevitable outcome in a weird way, even though the Lakers had several big leads late. Um. You know, so I do want to get away from the crunch time offense because we really need to hammer home this point

with Lebron and a D because it's really bad. Um, just in the regular flow of the game offense, there are these two outcomes that we're seeing a lot that are indicative of this mentality that Lebron and a D are both lacking right now, because it foundationally starts with this concept that we think that Lebron and a D when they are engaged and healthy, are both top five players. That's that's the that's the secret sauce of this entire

Lakers experiment, right. Um. But whether now some people outside of Laker circles might tell you Lebron's old a D actually uh, you know, shot uncharacteristically well in the bubble, So you know, the reality is, is there not that anymore? I would argue that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But I still think that when they're healthy and actually engaged in making a concerted effort to use

their physical tools, that they are top five players. And the read that you see most commonly with the two of them that is such a dead ringer for this concept is Anthony Davis post up, jab step jump shot. It's you're seeing that You're seeing that now almost every single post up and then with Lebron, it's the high screening role. Okay, he went under, I'm taking a three, but it's not I'm taking a balance three right at

the three point line. It's I'm taking a twenty seven ft or after where it's like, yeah, the dude went under the screen, Lebron, but you went under the screen because you ran it at feet you know, like there's a reason why you're open there, man like, and and that's the You've seen that with Lebron this entire season is just high volume three point shots, almost as like a punt, Like it's almost like he's hunting the possession, like this isn't gonna use any of my energy. This

is gonna I'm already halfway back on defense. Let me just like if you could see them, they're all clustered at the top of the key too. But that that Lebron three when the defender goes under, you know from twenty seven ft top of the key is his dad giveaway. And with Anthony Davis it's the jab step jump shot.

But it's you can tell without a shadow of a doubt that Lebron and a d are withholding some of their physical imprint on the game, and not just some, but a lot of their physical imprint on the game on both ends of the floor, both as rim pressuring offensive players and as hyper versatile defensive forwards that should, in theory be the cornerstone of the top five defense. And and so to your point, and it might be Frank, and we're not sure, and we'll find out, and we're

gonna find out quickly, I think hopefully. But but whatever, they're not dialed in. Yeah, I was gonna say I told a couple of friends that Frank was gonna if I said that Frank would be let go before this game because of what happened on the road trip, um and then going down so big. So if I'm off by one game, if he gets let go after this game, um, which I think is very very possible for that to happen. Uh, I'm gonna call myself a profit because, like I feel

like I saw this coming. I thought we see today. I thought they would hold off on Thanksgiving Day because I would be tacky, and then they would do it today Black Friday. Yeah, so let's talk about So you brought up something very interesting, right, Um, The idea that Lebron in an ad are holding back their talents, right, or holding back like sure, their full repertoire of of doing stuff. Um, for whatever reason that they're choosing to do. Um,

let's let's split those two things. Split those two players apart for a second. Okay, because Bron Bron has been out for a certain amount of games obviously that I think that growing injury and stuff like that is still something he's trying to work himself through. Like in the first half of the game, I think he had a post up spin move or something like that, and then he grabbed his growing um and I saw Peop tweeting like, Oh,

he's gonna get fine for that. I was just like, no, I think he's actually like like he may have tweaked his growing Like, I don't think he's like he's doing the celebration or something like that. But um, but let's

talk about a D for a second. Okay. Um, When we added Russ to this team, I wrote this nice thousand word article with like gifts and all that sort of stuff, talking about how Russ's motor would be great for a guy like Anthony Davis because because he's always attacking the rim, it almost forces a d to happen like participate in that process with him, right, because eight is such a good finisher, and we've seen through stretches of certain games where they've been really really good when

they're working with each other, like attacking the rim, picking their spots and stuff like that. But there have been way too many moments where eighties not like a partner in crime with him in those picking rolls, and so like, when I started seeing him sort of settled for jump shots, I was like, all right, that's fine, as long as eight is not trying to take these jump shots out of isolation, which he doesn't do very well to do out of the pick and roll, because Russ is gonna

get you a wide open jumper anyways. Right, But then if you watch today's game, watch the pick and rolls that a D and Russ rant. There are some where a D is running with him. There are somewhere a D creates like the passing angle um for Russ to what's it called, like, uh, you know, for Russ to deliver pass them. And then the most the most fascinating ones um is probably not the adjective of other people use.

They probably say it's frustrating, but there's ones where he delivers the screen and he just leaves the play like it's just Russ dribbling the ball with like a live dribble, waiting to see like all right, a d are you gonna are you gonna, you know, give me somebody to pass the ball? Are you gonna roll to the rim? Are you gonna pop out somewhere where I can give you the ball? Like you can watch Russ do it

for one to two dribbles, like just waiting. And when point guards do stuff like that, that means that somebody abandoned whatever the play was supposed to be. Absolutely like that. That was the fresh off the bubble special was this screen and just exit the play? Yeah, yeah, and so and so you know, like the part that you know, I'm a big fan of Russ. I'm from l A, so like I always love like the LA guys and stuff I got, especially since they're playing for the Lakers.

But like, the thing that's been the most jarring thing, the most contrasting thing for me as a theme through this season, because we haven't seen enough Braun is if we talk about how much how the high motor Russ has, Like at some point you have to have a conversation about like the lack or or the selective motor that Ad has. Like at some point, we can't as as fans.

I keep thinking to myself, like we can't and we can't just sit there and just be like, all right, it's cool if Ad he doesn't do anything for two to three two to three quarters or like two quarters of a game, or if he's on the floor for eight minutes and then he's just kind of you know,

floating around and doing what he's doing. Like at that point once Russ starts panicking and doing stuff that you don't want him to do and everybody starts getting mad at his turnover, is just like who's gonna help him out? And and and the reason I know that's true where I think it I'm making sense, it is because look at how good Malik Monk is. Look next to Russ. Oh, he's got a partner in crime to play with him. And then you look at the trio today th ht

Malik Monk and Russ. Those three guys were great like today, like defensively, offensively in transition. So if you are a partner in crime when it comes to this kind of play, then you can be successful. But if our two stars don't want to be you know, if they don't want

to participate, then what can we do? And you know, and it's dirty work to ask him to scream and roll to the basket every time, because yeah, you're gonna bump into people, You're gonna you're gonna occasionally have a dude, you know, try to undercut you, and you might, you might fall, and you might have sit in these ugly

plays here and there. That's that I get it. It's no different than it's like, hey, a D, I need you to play center, which means you might need to cover you know, more ground defending pick and rolls, and you might have to bang bodies with alex Lain more often instead of just offloading that respond this ability to Dwight.

Same thing goes for Lebron. It's like, yeah, man, it's gonna be hard to ask you to be the guy who's the back line helper when a D is involved in his screening role because you're gonna have to cover this amount of ground. You're gonna have to communicate, you're gonna have to stay focused, you can't take as many possessions off and you know, we have all these people that come in and they always said the same thing.

They go, it's, you know, it's too much to ask Lebron in his age, you know, thirty seven season to do this, this and this, And they'll say, you know, you know Anthony Davis, you know, if we haven't play center all season, he it's gonna be really hard on his body. And it's like, I hate to break it to you guys, but playing winning basketball is hard. It's hard. So we have to make a decision. Here are are we as you know, this team has to make a decision.

Or do you want to take all of the dirty work away from Lebron in a d and make their

jobs easy but the team sucks. Or do you want to try to be what Steph is doing with the Warriors, you know, engaging as a six three slight guard as who's in all defense conversation which may or may not be legitimate, But the point is is like around the league, when you look at these teams that are that are on that path, the straight and narrow path to contention, their stars are doing dirty work and and and what bothers me the most is like, go look at the Lakers.

With the Lakers a D played a lot of center. He brought his motor night and then night out was significant. He was running significantly higher, same with Lebron and you know what their bodies held up that it did because at the end of the day, the dirty little secret is they probably got more wear and tear of bullshitting through tonight's game then they would have got if they would have focused up and gotten the job done into

and a half quarters. And so I have a huge I have a huge problem with this idea of us babying Lebron in a D and acting like we can't ask them to be basketball players like all of the other top tier stars in the league are basketball players who have a job that they do on every possession.

It blows my mind. So so, you know, like so far, like we we've been we've been talking a lot about like just broad in a D and just kind of they're the way that they've been in and out of sort of games, and this gaming a nice example of this kind of what they were doing, um to some degree,

being being selected with their effort, whether it's offense or defense. UM. So one of the things I do want to say that, UM, because we mentioned vogo is that I think the league, um coaches around the league are adjusting too fast for him to be able to react to and like that over time, it was it was. There was no transition basketball. There's nothing like that. It was just slow it down. Everybody's walking the ball up for the possessions that were

on there. And um, when he pulled, I want to say when he pulled, I think when he put Avery Bradley and I figure out what it was. But in like that third overtime, they basically, oh, sorry, when when Alex Lynn got pulled out the game because he fouled out, they put Tristan talksmen in the game, right And so Tristan was standing like in the corner right three like

Alvin Gentry. All he did was he started instead of attacking, uh, you know, using Alex lend the space the floor and I have a D and drop coverage or whatever he whatever Vogel had him doing. Um like he just picked on Mellow. He just said, all right, whoever is Mellow, whoever Mellow is guarding, just coming screen and we'll put we'll put Mellow on an island. So it's just like and then we watched like three straight plays of Mellow get picked on before Frank actually like call the time

out and subbed them out. By then it was already too late. But like that's an example of like what I'm trying to say, Like if you watch other coaches around the league, it's like one possession, Like you'll see Erik Spolson do like watch that happened once and he'll he'll call it time. I'll be like, Okay, we're changing the coverage right now because we're not gonna let this happen again like immediately the next play, because it forces the offense on the other end um to have to adjust.

I don't think Frank's cut out for it, and all honestly he has. I think he has base coverages. He has like set game plans, and then he adjusts based on what the other teams do. And what we're watching is in the regular season, teams are just gonna throw the kitchen sink at the Lakers um if they can't score at all, those just turning into ice of basketball, and they'll find the worst defender on the floor and they'll just attack that guy. And that's nothing nothing to

do with Mellow. Mellow is who he is again, like we as Laker fans, should not expect a thirty six year old Mellow or nine year nineteen Mellow to be a lockdown defender, you know, like that's that's not why we brought him here, um, and that's what we brought

him in for. And I just I don't think he can keep up with it, you know that That's been my think this This roster has too many offensively inclined guys and he can't get to whatever, you know, equilibrium he needs to get to to be confident with his lineups. And you know that it is what it is. You know, like that you can't really make an excuse for It's just it may be too much for somebody to add. Yeah, you know, it's an interesting phenomenon because the Laker identity

from the beginning has been a brute force identity. At the best person I've seen explained this is Mike Trudell on the Laker film or podcast. The idea that like, hey,

you know, sets carry a certain amount of value. That value diminishes the closer you get to the end, because when you're against the highest level defenses that are likely going to be switching everything and that are likely going to know all of your actions, They're probably gonna be able to switch their way through anything, and it's gonna inevitably devolved into who can create an advantage in a

one on one scenario? And do you really think of anybody better than Lebron and A D at that specific thing. And so that's that, that's been their cop out, their excuse that they use um for their very rudimentary offensive concepts and the but the reality is is there's a there's a flip side to it, because yes, when we get to those moments, I feel comfortable that Lebron, A D and Ruts are going to be able to create advantages that as at as higher rate, if not a

higher rate, than anybody in the league. That that goes without saying. But in the day to day dregs in the regular season, what we're seeing is you've got Lebron and Lebron and a D who has as jump shooters can be streaky. And then and then you've got Russ who's kind of like I like the way you describe him as an engine, like when he gets warmed up, that Russ has these stretches of the game where it's just drive after drive after drive, and just good stuff

happens on every single one of them. The trick there is is we're not reaching the good. So when I say streaky, that means there's good and there's bad, but we're seeing a lot more bad than the good. And I think a lot of that has to do with the lack of easy opportunities to establish rhythm and to establish comfort having. This is my biggest problem with DJ

being a starter. There's a half dozen problems with DJ being a starter, but the biggest problem is the way that it jinks up the offense to the point where every one of the three stars starts with two or three tough jump shots as their first shot attempts to the game, so they might make them sorry, I'll give you, I'll give you the perfect This is the This is the metaphor I like to use when when we play these DJ lineups at the beginning of the game and

at the at the the beginning of the second half, it's like waking up in the morning, getting kicked in the balls and then starting it's literally what these games like?

What these like? It's a tie game and we immediately go down six points, like within like three minutes of basketball through the seven points or some nonsense number, and it's just like every single time, it's just like I feel like liquor fans already know what's going to happen, like and as soon as the third quarter starts, are like, all right, let's wait to go down by like six seven, you know, to three points, to three possessions, and then Frank's and aft to pull them. And that's exactly what

happened this game. It's just I don't know how many times we can get kicked in the balls, you know, before somebody has to make a change. So if Frank is not going to be the one that does it, that's why I think, you know, easy troll by run, you know. But it's it's a basic basketball concept, Like like for all of you out there who play consistent pickup, who's when you show up? Like each day kind of

takes an identity. I have days when I go up there and my legs feel great and I'm living at the rim, and i have days when I go up there and I'm kind of just coasting around. My jump shot feels really good and I'm taking a lot of jump shots, and you you your day kind of is shaped by you know, how things go in the first few minutes that you're playing right, and then that kind of identity just shapes the rest of your debt. You know, you have a day where you're not giving a ship

on defense. You have a day where you know, maybe you're with a good group of guys and everyone's playing hard, and so you're you're locked in and you're playing defense.

Some of that stuff is translatable here, like if you make guys, if you set Lebron a D and Russ up early in the game to feel comfortable with advantages catching where it's not always against a set defense and a half court, but either with a defender closing out where they have an advantage, or in transition when the defense and set, or with space to where if you have a good matchup, you have the ability to make easy reads um after you beat your primary defender if

they get enough of those early in the game. I'm a firm believer that it translates to the rest of the game. If Lebron is settling for jump shots early in the game, I don't think it's a coincidence that that becomes a theme throughout the game. You know, and ironically, that's almost become a theme for the season for him, which I think has a lot to do with the

with these factors. Same goes for Anthony Davis. But the point being like some getting somebody in the door, whether whether it's a new coach or whether well, let's just put it this way, whether it's a new system or scheme that sets them up with easy shots, or a coach that puts them in a position where they are bought back into the season physically to the point where they're willing to put their physical imprints on the game.

Speaking about Lebron and a d to the point where early in the game they're putting their head down and getting to the rim. More. I just think it would change the overall outlook for how these games go. And I know that seems confusing, and it's not. It's not a very you know, logical approach. But for those of

you have played, you know what I'm talking about. You know there's there is such a thing as like the feel of a game and how you feel with the group that you're playing with, and whether or not you feel comfortable or you feel uncomfortable. And the bottom line is, as Frank has not put these guys in a position

to where they feel comfortable in the offense. Yeah. Yeah, And I think the last phase of what I was talking to Roger about it like that, I think that what you're describing is the impast that Frank is, Like, this is the I I try to determine as like the identity crisis. Like, I think this is the identity crisis that Frank is trying to figure out, and he's losing that battle because he's the way he is. So

this was this was my logic. Let me take a step back when I think Frank Vogel is being evaluated by the front of this this season based on his ability to optimize all the offensive players and the offense

that's on this team. Right. I don't think there's any question from this front office that if you got him defensive minded players like Alex Caruso and KCP Couza, whoever, Like, if you got him guys like that, he could put together, you know, a top three I think he's the best defensive coaching basketball, and I thought he proved it round

after round in the bubble. Yeah fair, um, But I think I think this front office this season, um with some guidance from Braun and buy and you know, because Rob Polinkas said over and over again, this is a partnership with Braun and a d. This is not me just doing stuff on my own and not running stuff

by him. UM. So I think there was a conversation about making a more offensively in client roster um and then working on the defense as the season goes on, right, And I think that's why this roster has built the way that it is built. I think that's why they made the trade for Russ because they wanted another guy that wasn't just Braun, that could set up the other

players and set up Braun at the same time. Because we've definitely seen that where west you know, Westbrook and Braun UM, that tandem has worked out really well, especially in transition and stuff like that. UM. And I think that's what the front office wants to do with this roster.

But I think Frank is evaluating his roster based on what his who who's going to play defense for me, regardless of how good they are offensively, Like Malik Monk wasn't Like there's a subsection of Lakers Twitter or Lakers Nation that that Malik Monk was good enough to start from the jump, you know, but a lot of people were saying, look, he's not he's not quite there defensively to be able to do that. And here we are

in game twenty one. But it's like, you know, like he's he's playing these minutes and he's doing a good He's not like he's doing a terrible job. He's doing like at least like a baseline job of trying to stay in front of guys and stuff like that when he isn't getting picked on. But that that in itself, the fact that they're measuring each other, they're measuring the roster on two completely different wavelengths. That is why I

think there's an impast there's an identity crisis. And when we look at Frankie, we say, look, man, we gotta let you go because we need we can't have both. We can't have a bottom five defense and they bottom five offense, like this roster is good enough to have a much better offense than a bottom five offense. And I think that's ultimately why he'll let go. He'll be let go um, And I think that's just what this season is. That's why you keep seeing games like this

and we're a five hundred team agree. I think I think the I think the harsh reality though, and I think you'd probably agree here, is that there's not, you know, some magic coaching fix for the offense in the sense that there's no actual candidate out there that represents a um you know, a clear philosophy that would fix this. UM My guess is what will end up happening if that does happen, is they'll stay in house and they'll

go with either Phil Handy or um Fizdale. And then what will happen is, and I can just kind of see this coming a mile away, what will happen is

is they'll make the change. It'll be the big nuclear bomb that gets dropped on the season and Anthony Davis and Lebron will re engage, and then when they do, the offense will look better, but it will be primarily based on, ironically a frank concept which was which was paid too great, this idea, this idea that like, because when we when we see the Lakers look good offensively, it's a really basic concept. It's Lebron and a D

putting their head down. Mainly with Lebron and Russ a D really hasn't had a stretch like this this season, and that goes to a whole other topic. But really it's Braun and Russ putting their heads down, getting into the paint in either finishing or spraying out to really good shooters because the Lakers now have really good shooting on the team. Um, you know they have they have three bona fide. Cannot leave them open shooters that are

in their rotation. And so from that standpoint, you know, the offense kind of ebbs and flows based on rim pressure, and so you know, you can, you can you know talk about you know, scheme this, scheme that, coach this,

coach that. But the reality is is when Lebron and a d re engage after the coaching change and they start pressuring the rim again, I think you're going to see this team take off offensively because because the reality is is like once that, once that ball gets rolling in that direction, they have the talent to be a top five offense. Yeah, no, I agree, and and um, you know, to change some of the energy of our conversation.

But so so it doesn't seem so dreary. Um, there has been some good stuff that's happened, like even um in like the silver lining stuff that's happened since Braun has been sitting out. So you know, with us being so so shorthanded, you know, we've seen Austin Reaves kind of developed into like this role where he looks like you could be a real rotation player. UM. So that's

been good. Um But I would say, like over the past couple of games and this game, especially um, the Russ and Malik tandem and then like the Russ Malik and Taylor Horton Tucker tandem has been slowly growing into something that like is a very interesting trio of players to watch because you have two guys who are uber rim attackers in Russ in th HT and then you have Malik Monk who can kind of score basically all three levels and he has like that irrational j R.

Smith confidence, and so it's been really interesting to see how they compliment each other and who gets the ball. More Like this game, there was there was probably i want to say, in the second quarter there was a four possession or five possession sequence where Malik just ran the offense. He ran like two or three picking rolls with a d uh. They scored two like at least

twice out of them. And then after they got a lead of like about six or seven points, like I think Malik had like two turnovers, and then they cut the lead to like four. So it's like, you know, having the right amount of balance and how much you haven't make the decisions and stuff like that. But Russe was on the floor too as well, like he was playing off ball. He wasn't getting in the way like so like there has been some good stuff that's happened.

Like again, this was another game like the Cleveland game where you saw Russ working off of whatever Braun was doing. Rust cut. You know, teams load up. You know Rust's man goes to load up or double Braun. Rust immediately backcuts for La you know what I mean. Um, I think there was one where Rust cut and Braun missed him like right in front of the and then yeah, and that would have been you know that that would have been a momentum changing play too. But it's just

like you're not. Um. I think going into the season, there was probably not a fan saying like, oh, how are you going to manage to keep Russ on the floor? Uh in the late game because he can't shoot the ball. And stuff like that. He's finding ways, you know, he's cutting to the rim. We saw that in the Detroit

game and he set up Russ for cuts. Um and his rebounding like, um, you know a lot of people may have forgotten, but the guys that were grabbing the rebounds against Sibonis in the Indie game, it was Russ and Mellow like there. They didn't have a high advantage or size advantage. The guys that they were boxing out, they're just out. Yeah. Yeah, And he had a couple offensive rebounds at the end of you know, in over time to try and create some extra possessions for the

Lakers too. Yeah. Yeah, And I'm sorry that was the other thing I was gonna say that trio is actually a pretty good it seems it feels like a good rebounding trio. Tucker and Malik will will crash the glass from their god guard spots to grab rebounds. So it's like there are some good things. Um. But you know, like I told Roger and anything, like the championship pieces are on the table, they're just so far apart from each other. We don't know what the whole picture looks like.

And you can only look at it in pockets and stuff like that. But I do think you know that the effort, consistent effort at least um from from Braun and a D that that's a pretty big piece of the puzzet. It's the biggest piece. And it's the biggest piece, Like it's it's that joke that that Darius Soriano from Lafar always tells, like, you can't judge scheme without effort.

It's just a it's it's a basic concept. And you know, I could even take that step further with all the role players, man, and I'm sure you'd agree with me here, Like how can I really really judge Malik Monk's defensive bit with this team projecting it to the playoffs? If

Lebron and Nadi are bullshitting? How could like even as a backup backup center, which is what I envisioned, DeAndre Jordan's someone who would only play when a d has to rest, or when Dwight has to rest, And how can I really even judge how he's contributed to this group when he's playing alongside a starting lineup that has two alleged top five players that are b ssing their

way through these games, Like it's not fair. It's not fair to judge them in that regard, and and and and and I'm just saying like, and for the record, I I think a lot of what we're seeing is real. Malik Monk is gonna have some defensive struggles. He's not gonna be capable of the same thing that that the guards that we had in previous iterations of this team could do. DeAndre Jordan is probably our worst drop coverage

big that we've had since we've started this hut. The truth this is we're We're a bad drop team with a D and dwite. So so how can I how can I really get out here and be like, oh, you know, Dwight just just really bad signing. It's like, well, I we envisioned him as a third drop coverage center,

and all of our drop coverages suck. And so from all I'm saying is like, none of this is easy to evaluate until Lebron and a D start carrying the way that Steph is caring right now, the way that Draymond is carrying right now, the way that Chris Paul is carrying right now, the way that any of these teams that are trending and hitting those championship checkpoints the

way those teams are trending. Until until Lebron and a d start making a concerted effort to get that team on that track, we can't even really, like, if you were trying to plan for the trade deadline right now, how could you even how could you even conceptualize that with beyond seeing until you see what Lebron ind are

capable of with this group, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, That's that's why I think, you know, because there's always rumors whenever your teams are doing well and stuff like that, and obviously where the Lakers were, there's always some conversation about somebody getting traded at it trade. Even when we're

winning championships, there's always a conversation about it. UM, So a lot of folks are probably looking in that direction that you know, there may be some personnelity changes, but I don't think personnelity changes are going to fix this team. Like it's it's going to have to happen. It's gonna have to be something significant, like you know, like the coach getting fired, um and being replaced by somebody that

the players actually like. And I think, you know, I I would agree with you that there's no baseline for us to look at because that effort has been so there's no consistent efforts. So there's no consistent baseline. There's nothing that I can look at and say, Okay, at least I know we can do get Yeah, like when we try as hard as we possibly can that this thing, it doesn't work. Like we don't have any of that, right, but I will say that DJ DJ is there is

no version. Look, okay, they started this game right, and they were scoring on their um the basket that was in front of their bench, right, so the bench has the leaguer bench has full view, okay, crystal clear view of what DeAndre is doing when the ball is coming in his direction and they're watching him basically turn passes that should be catching dunks into fifty fifty catches. Like it's it's almost like, you know, like a running back that can't catch a pitch or something like that from

grab a handoff. That's how bad he's missing these. And it's just like the part that you know, I'm not gonna keep harping on, Frank, because I think we've we've done that enough. But it is crazy, crazy how many players.

Go anybody, go, if you want to torture yourself a little bit more and you're into that kind of stuff, go watch the first quarter and watch how many possessions where DeAndre either you know, he got bumped on the box out and he wasn't able to get the rebound, or the ball went to him and he got shipped.

And then watch what he does after that. There are so many possessions at the beginning of the game, um where he just doesn't run back and he just throws his hands up in the air and he's whining and complaining like like a kid who didn't get his allowance for the week. And it's it's a five on four and I don't care whether we're playing the Kings or

the Lakers. Are lucky they didn't go down by double digits at the end of the first quarter because the King couldn't make a wide open three, like we were fortunate that they couldn't make shots. But you can't do that. You can't have four to five possessions in a quarter or or even you know, close to six and seven possessions where you're playing five on four basketball because your centers pouting about not getting a call like it's not possible.

You're not going to win a game by doing that, and teams I think today, um, I thought I saw it in the playoff series against the Sons. I think teams have gone in with the game plan against the Lakers, specifically Frank Rogos Lakers, and said, look, we're not even gonna try to go to the rim. We're not gonna bother because we know that we can't shoot over to seven footers. So we're just gonna find the open create

the open three. And when these five on fours and just take open to this are trying it to shootout and they're getting their asses kicked, you know, like that that's what's happening to the Lakers every single time. Um to get lazy on defense and then all of a sudden, you know, the team hit three threes in a row, and now whatever lead that we had is gone. So that's that's that's the best the best way I can

there was. I actually thought about you earlier tonight because you've been on You've been one of the people that's been on this. You know, there there are a bunch of problems with the DJ lineups. There's you know, the offensive spacing problems that we've discussed because he doesn't even

offer vertical spacing because like you said, he's got stone hands. Um, there's the uh, you know, the defensive part of it, like how how bad our drop coverages look in general, or any time you ask him to cover any sort

of ground. There's a defensive rebounding problem for whatever reason, and DeAndre Jordan's on the floor, we just cannot secure a rebound, like I saw a staff the other day, Like more than one out of every three opponent misses our offensive rebounded against DJ, like which which would rank last in the league. Like, there's all these problems, but one of the big ones that you've been on all season is overall foot speed and the way that it

hurts you in transition. And there was actually a play in tonight's game where uh it turned into a five on two um because DJ botched. I can't remember the exact circumstances of the play, but Lebron tried to make a play for DJ and it got botched. Okay, after it got botched, Lebron and DJ both were like, like DJ obviously just slow. Lebron obviously pouted And then a D is also slow, Like that's what we've talked about on this pot a lot a D. What makes a

D is super duperstars definitely not straight line speed. That's not his his supreme talent. And so all of a sudden, like I literally screenshot it's the screen shot because all five Kings Jerseys or south of the three point line. So they were literally all the way on the other the far forth of the court with Avery Bradley and uh In Russell Westbrook trying to play two on five defense and they had all three of those Lakers had

not even crossed half court. I'm not even kidding. It's like they are so slow in terms of their overall foot speed with that lineup, it is untenable. Yeah, what what do you what do you think? Just just humor me for a second. What do you think? What do you think Frank Mobile is probably telling these guys, like when when they pull up the film and they see that there's a five on two, what do you think he's saying? It's like, hey, guys, we just gotta be better.

Like the film sessions have to be total ship shows. They have to be because there has to be private conversation among the coaching staff. That's like, well, we can't show them all the plays. Like if we show that they screwed up on all the place, how do we do? Yeah,

because that's that's the part. You know. Like earlier this season, we were you know, Laker fans are upset that you know, like Mellow didn't look good, um defensively and he was putting an effort to some degree, and the link mount you know, and same thing with Russ, Like all these role players kept getting like their effort picked apart and

stuff like that. And I was sitting there and I was just like, yeah, you know, some of this is fair, Like some of these guys should be, you know, um better on the defensive end, on the effort and stuff like that when they're not asked to carry the offensive load.

But then like some of those guys have improved, you know, like Mellow has gotten a better like to the baseline where he's not like a complete see right, Like if he's not if he's defending a guy who's the same size as him, you know, the same kind of speed and as him and stuff like that, he's okay, he's not. He's not terrible. Yeah, Malik and even Russ they've all gotten better. But it's just like, I just keep thinking

about myself. It's just like, how how do you when you see a d just kind of chill out on the offensive ent and not do anything, you know what I mean? And then just watch this guys have to do everything by themselves. Or you see Braun not run back like I would. I can't imagine Frank saying anything.

He probably just fast forwards right through that possession because he knows that he doesn't want to bring it up and um, but you know that's my thing, Like, I'm sure people are going to stay at the end of this game, Like Frank has got to go because look at the offense that they're running at the end of

the game. But if Braun wants to run post upos because he's getting Terence Davis a small guy, um or Daron Fox a small guy and Sacramento isn't switching, Frank's not going to be able to override Lebron like and so it's like, how can I get mad at Frank for something like that? And they're like, oh, maybe we should run in with Russ a little bit more. Russ isn't going to override Lebron because we've been screaming, don't get in Lebron's way, you know, the entire time. And

so it's just Frank. You know. Obviously we talked about how he looked, evaluates this roster and and gives a minutes, distributes mints and stuff. I got how the front office is doing it. I think the other thing that Frank has had some difficulty with um, which is something I've always praised, like a guy like uh Rik Spoelstra and Tylu because he intimately um that he he has a

difficulty navigating the nature of his players. Like I don't think he looks at Anthony Davis when he's playing and when we're all screaming wise Anthony Davis being so passive, I don't think Frank does that. Like I don't think he goes, okay, you know what, maybe I need to change it up because Anthony is being really passive right now no matter what I call, Like, he's not running with Russ. So let me let me play A guy

will run with Russ. So then that way, you know, I mean, like our offense gets a little bit better, or you know, there's more defensive effort or Anthony's not coming to crash the glass after boxing out or something like that. So let me let me play a guy some of that. We don't have the people to do it. But that's like, that's important, you know, those small and tangible things that are not counting stats have to matter,

effort has to matter. And I think maybe he's missing, Um he has some difficulty gauging that, uh and working around it. So that that's that's there. There are there's some good stuff that malak thht Russ. This is another great rust game. He kept his turnovers down pretty significantly, like he's been really really good the past like two weeks. Um, we just need our starts to kind of you know, decide when they want to participate and stuff again. So

I think it'll happen once Frank has gone. I do think we're headed in that direction because um basketball with with these three guys, Uh, it's I would say, it's you know, below expectations. Oh my goodness, that would be the very kindest way you could put it there. Um, you know, this is the last thing I'm gonna say, and then I want you to respond, and then we'll get out of here and we'll call it tonight. Um, so when Frank goes, which feels kind of inevitable, but

I guess we'll find out. You know, I've been one of the people advocating for that. I'm not alone, but I do feel like it's important to drive home this final point. The main reason why I think he should be gone is lebron A D's buy. To me, that's literally that I could. I can even make a case that that's the only real reason, because the truth is is there is there is good that comes with Frank that outweighs some of his bad. He is he is

he in Overski's offensively yes, is he did? Like like you said, does he struggle to see the the personality of his players in the way it's playing out on the floor, and how he can try to counter that by making things easier for them in those specific areas. Yeah, you're absolutely right about that. However, he also brings so

much to the table defensively. Um, he does preach effort in focus, and he does preach all the right things, And I genuinely think he probably is, you know, a coach who's deserving of this opportunity to coach this team through the end of the season. But that said, it's really this simple. To me, Lebron and maybe appeared to

not want him, so therefore he has to go. And I know that seems crazy, but this team isn't going anywhere unless lebrono A D are are carrying the way they did two years ago, for two seasons ago, I should say, And it appears to me that the only way to kick start that is to fire the coach,

and that's not fair to Frank. I hope that on the day he's fired, that myself and everyone else goes out there and sings his praises because they deserve to be some because the truth of the matter is he he has not put forth a fire able job here. What what what? What has it happened here? Is urgency

requires that he's fired. The urgency and therefore the lack, I should say, the lack of urgency that we're seen from Lebron and a D has presented urgency with the coaching situation because it's the only available option to try to kick them, like you said, kick them the balls and try to get them going. So that's that's kind of where I'm at with it. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm

in agree with you. I don't think it's a fair situation that Frank is in, but that's just this is sort of the nature or just kind of how the NBA. If you're superstars, superstars don't buy into the coach that that they have, regardless of whatever the previous accolades are. You have to make a change and being having that malleability or you know that flexibility in the front office

is important. UM. You know, I don't know what direction the Lakers going if they do move Frank, but I do think that it will result in a more engaged UM, a more engaged Lebron and a D. And I do think that one of those metrics, specifically the offensive rating metric, will start moving in the direction that it should move in. UM And I think that's what these guys want. I honestly think A D and Braun want to spend the

regular season, UM, not grinding every single game defensively. UM. You know, when they were saying that A D and Braun We're going to play the four and five, I was excited, but at the same time, I thought to myself, I was just like, are they really going to play defense? Like for the thirty five minutes at four and five because that's a lot of work um us in general, and that's why there's so many role players that played that spot. But they defended so well the previous two seasons.

That's the part that's hard for me to like contextualize here, you know what I mean, Yeah, it could be. It could be just because the last season. You know, um, because I will say this, I think playing defense in the NBA is much more taxing on the body than

probably fans realize. Um. You know, Crusoe would get all kinds of small injuries, like we've seen eight get hit in the face, like at least once a game now from an elbow from like a big man just trying to stop him from blocking one of his ships, or from a small guard doing it. So there are all kinds of small injuries that happened. Like people of people are like, yeah, we should play Bron. Not not that I'm completely the screen, but like people like, yeah, Bron

should played more five. It's like, okay, if Bron starts contesting these junk these layoffs, you know, with verticality, all it's going to take is one guy to me him righting and writing in his growing area or his midsection and he's going to be out for like three weeks again. And just today a do you want to go block?

Who was it? Marvin Bagley? And he got a need right in the growing like they called the defensive foul on But you know what I mean, Like it's just like, um, defense takes a lot out of you because you're always constantly throwing your body in harm's away to try to present to prevent you know, an offensive player for scoring. And I don't think it's reasonable to expect those two guys to do that. Um, so really really quil really quick.

Not to cut you out, but this is I think there has to be happy medium here because, like I said earlier, yes, if you're stars aren't willing to do any dirty work, you're signing up to be a bad team. So there has to be a happy medium in there somewhere. Yeah, yeah, I agree, um And yeah, before I went on a tangent, I agree with you, man. I I just don't I don't know. I don't think it's frank, I don't think

it's a coach like this. Everything about this team, um, from specifically our stars, makes me think that they're not committed to this coach and putting in the kind of effort that they need to with this coach. UM, and it's unfair. I agree. Um, there have been some really really good things that we've learned about this team, really really good things that we've seen out of this team, um,

in small, short segments. But I don't think all the pieces will come together until there's a different person kind of manning the wheel, because player buying matters. It's a player's lead. That's just how it works. So you know, I'm a watch every single game and and not have extremely eye expectations because we can go up by twenty five. But I've already seen this below one of those leads. You know, Well, it's you know, it's it's a roller coaster season, but you know, you just you just gotta

go through it. Yeah. That that that's what makes the team right, is all right? Everybody? I think I'm looking at twelve am here in Tucson, and I still have to get all this uploaded to the podcast speed, So I think we're gonna call it tonight. But I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to have coming and coming Forage tonight. Everyone who tuned in to listen. Thank you guys so much for your support. As always, this is gonna air on Dash Radio tomorrow morning at seven am

pacifics and your time. It will be on our podcast feed here in about twenty minutes. Again, thank you as always for you guys and support. We will be back for this Sunday night game which I believe is an eight pm start, but I can't remember. Um. Either way, we'll be back on Sunday night. Thank you guys as usual, and we will see you in a couple of days.