Lakers/Wolves Postgame Spaces

I kind of had a bad feeling about tonight. There was a lot of just chaos surrounding the team, right, just with all the people coming in and out, Malik Monk being okay to go on the plane, but he wasn't okay to play. Russell Westbrook coming in and out of protocols, signing Isaiah Thomas right, And I felt, just for me, I'm a big process guy, but tonight I felt like it was just, uh, just get a win and get out of here. Like That's kind of was my thought process going to this one. I wasn't really

going to care about process. And again, it's not about Isaiah Thomas or John j. Brown or Jahoff, but just to me, those kind of players coming up just signaled that we were in survival mode, right that Johnny Brown and then were and Jayhoff just were never with the team before. And Isaiah Thomas to me, just doesn't fit

with this team needed. And I'll get into him a little bit better, a little bit more later, because I actually played well tonight, but again on the team with so many guards and getting another guard back hopefully sometime in January, his fit just didn't make sense to me. So like this game felt very survival mode, very panicky, right, That's what the moves and the signings kind of told to me, and you could tell it. You could tell

that with the team as well. I'm not gonna go too long tonight because I don't think anyone needs to hear me ramble about this game. This wasn't a It's not a very happy game to talk about, especially just right after the game, all the us still there. Let me start with the start of the game. Obviously, Karl Anthony Towns and the whole Minnesota Timberwolves to me came in with a we can get a win on this team. And I was at that. I was at the game

where they played US at home. I was at the Minnesota Laker game when they played US and beat us by thirty. There was a physical dominance to them that they had that I saw again tonight, and even without Anthony Edwards, there was a physical dominance that I saw them just keep up. And Lebron didn't play in that first game, but it felt a lot like this. Jared Vanderbilt how the same type of impact, a lot of offensive rebounding, a lot of players where we just weren't there.

And that was the most frustrating thing for me. We just didn't give the requisite effort to win this one. Karl Anthony Town's obviously cared about this. He cares about the A D matchup in a way that you know, some big dudes, some big stough. I don't think your kid cares about it in the same way. And Beat I don't think even in b doesn't take it the same way to me that Towns does when they play. Towns obviously has some kind of personal feeling and a D just was not there for it. And I can't

blame him for that. I mean, Anthony did this is a superstar, Like in his mind, he's like, what do I have to prove against kar Anthony Towns and some matchup at the end of February. But it would have been nice to see him kind of pick that up.

And obviously a D is the story tonight, right, He's the backdrop of anything I say, because all the jokes, and I'm tired of the soft jokes about a D. I don't know how you watch a guy have someone running to his knee and the first thing you think of is you know, he's made of glass, or he's soft or he's not tough, Like I don't know how that's the first thing in your mind, but anyway, that's obviously everything that this revolves around. Now, hopefully a D

is fine. Hopefully a D is good to go sooner than later. I don't think he's gonna play Sunday. That's probably out of the picture now, but hopefully he's ready to go soon. And I wanted to start I guess I'm I'm an kind of rambow around back. The first place I really wanted to start with. It felt like this team has been theoretical for a very long time, right after the bubble, obviously after the title. I mean, it felt like we've had a theoretical team for so long.

I mean, especially when a D went down in February one and six. Record just gets stamped in my head, and that team had its issues, right, and then I was fine with all the roster moves in in a hole from that season, but a D went down in February, and then from then on it just felt like a okay, well, when Lebron gets back, now, what would this team will

look like? Okay, now we have Andre Drummond. Oh what it looks like when a D gets back and all of a sudden it's game four of the playoffs, right, and all of a sudden and then a D goes down. And then you have this year as well, right, which is felt like a oh, wait till Trevor Reason gets back. Oh, wait till Kendrick Nunn gets back, or wait till th

HD gets back. And we've been in this like constant circle of like okay, wait till this player gets back before we can judge the team, which is not really how basketball works, right. A team is a construction, it's its own ecosystem. Every single year, my team has a new kind of way that they perform on the court. And this is what this team has been. They are

what fifteen and thirteen now two games over five. I saw a lot of comments tonight about people hate this team, right, and and that's kind of been the feeling for this team, that the effort is just so lackluster for for way too long. And I just hated the start of this one. Karl Anthony Towns punked a lot of our team, and we can get mad at him screaming and all that, but he obviously felt like this was a game his team could win. The Wolves haven't been great. I think

they've lost like five in a row recently. They've lost they won two in a row, but they lost like five in a row recently. But obviously tonight's the game. They felt like they can out physical us, out rebound us, dominate us inside. And we were like four for twenty a half time and stuff like that as well, you know, from four for twenty from three from a halftime, which doesn't help at all. But it just felt like we

got we got really outplayed. And let me start with Lebron, I guess because Lebron was disengaged on both ends, and that's that's extremely clear, and it reminded me of the Memphis game. Honestly, there were a lot of turnovers. There was one turnover I think where he hit a guy in the face, Um, get a guy right in the head and went and went the other way. A lot

of just lack of engagement turnovers. And I can't really get mad at lebronx He's played so well recently and I keep competing this drum that it's unfair that he has to be this level, this certain level of defense, this baseline of defense for this team. But it just is what it is. That's the roster construction, uh, that we have this year, is that Lebron and A D both have to be this super engaged four or five combo,

especially when they're starting. And the next thing I'm gonna get to his the starters, But just from an identity basis here, this team needs Lebron A D to be themselves. And I like, as a person watching, can't get mad at lebron And you're nineteen for taking plays off, right, Like, how can I get upset at him for taking defensive plays off. He knows what he needs to do for his body and all that, but it's just looks bad on film. It also looks bad when you have all

these cards that also don't do the same thing. Then you're playing Isaiah Thomas and again you you can't. I really can't get mad at Vogel either. What he's gonna do with the roster. He the roster he had um tonight, but man a d has and again I hope he's okay. You know, the injury sucks. He had two injuries in the same game, which is just I don't know what you call that. I don't think bad luck. I don't think bad luck. You know, gives it the proper name

for having two separate type of injuries. Um, and the body is obviously one whole thing, so they can kind of be connected by I mean, it just sucks to have two separate kind of injuries, to come back from one injury and then get injured again. But he's been in a funk for a while. I mean, I don't know what it is. The numbers are still there because you can walk into twenty and twelve, right, That's just

that's just how good Anthony Davis is. Like he can walk into twenty and twelve while being disengaged for quarters at a time, And that's really what's been happening. And again we started him at the five tonight and at the five it's just a lot of possessions he's it

looks like an injury prevention, right. And look, Karl Anthony Towns is a superstar player, but if a D is engaged, if he's locked in, and we saw some of them in the third quarter, which I'll get into later, but we saw him engage, and that when you can when a D is engaged, like Karl Anthony Towns is not going to be able to just post up from the free throw line, extended dribble down with five dribbles and

get into an easy jump up like that. That does not happen if Anthony Davis is engaged and he wasn't, like he just plane wasn't, And he starts these games these way. He starts these games walking into him trying to trying to work his way into rhythm, right, And I disagree with the approach. I understand the approach. I disagree with it. I just think this team kind of needs him engaged from from tips like, I just think that's how the roster's construction. But that's what he does.

He gets into these games and he tries to work himself into it right and tries to get engaged later on the game, and you'll see him have a huge third quarters, right, so have like five points at halftime and he'll still finish with his twenty two twelve because we'll have like a third quarter where he dominates. But again, tonight, I thought we needed it. We were so short handed. Like I can't judge the team. I could judge the Stars every levels though, like that's I think that's fair.

I can judge a D as being worked by Karl Anthony Towns, like I would like him to take this matchup a little bit more personally. Uh, he just wasn't. But yeah, Ad has been in a funk and I don't know what it is. Hopefully you know he can come back. And I don't think it's just a jumper either. And I don't think it's just lineups. I remember early in the year everyone just said, you know, take DeAndre Jordan out the starting lineup and and you'll get the

real bubble a D again. And I always thought that was kind of misguided. And look at DeAndre Jordan was not an answer to any solution. I just don't think he was a He was a problem where you pull the you pulled the you pull the plug on DeAndre Jordan and all of a sudden everything else kind of lights up, like I just never thought that was the case. I thought this team had bigger issues then just DeAndre

Jordan's taking him out of the lineup. And you see that right that I've I've been kind of preaching this because everyone's been so high on the A D at the five line, and I still think that's the best for this team. I just think there are there are places where it pulls from and you could see it when he starts there's he's not as mobile, he's not as live defensively, and he's been very clear about wanting to play the four. And I don't want to make this podcast all again about a D playing the five

or four. That's not what I wanted to do tonight. But you could you could totally tell he likes playing the four in terms of being able to roam right and he can't roam as much if he's the back line center. And you could tell he gets frustrated a lot because like he'll like, you have help the helper principles, right, So when a D comes over, when a guard, usually they'll run a lot of screen role at the Lakers because they have small guards who get eaten up by screens.

You put a D into any action, that means there's really no rim protection besides, you know Lebron. And again on a game like tonight, Lebron is not trying to go up and block a hundred shots or being verticality of million times like he just wasn't trying to do that tonight. And again all those caveats heasy in year nineteen, it's not really fair to expect that. But just from a D side of you, he picks up the guard he has. His job is now to protect the paint.

His job is to make sure the guard doesn't get a lay up and make sure the big doesn't get dunk. But the guard who comes over that screen has to then help the help it right. He has to go back and tag or take away to take away the role in kar Anthony Towns tonight. He got a lot of roles on that. And that's not eighties fault, but it's it's just the way that the team is, uh, the team is kind of constructed. So this is a

rough night, man, This is a this is a tough one. Okay, I'm glad I got kind of the negatives out of here. I want to go into that starting lineup. I want to kind of I kind of want to go into that, so the starting lineup to preface this. On media day, we were sold that we were gonna get russ lebron A d with Ellington and Trevor Reason. Four of those guys have been healthy for the last few weeks, but

we haven't really started to get that until recently. Um just with the way things that work have gone big. You know, we've started Avery Bradley instead of Wayne Allington, and I've been I've been really parading for Ellington to start because I just think the spacing is needed, and I thought we saw some of it tonight. And again the game started and we were running right. We we got out and ran, We created I think two turnovers.

Rust was on the role. Baysmore missed a layup I think at the rim, but I that was like the identity and he saw a little bit of it and the Basemore picked up two fouls and then it just went right out right. We we subbed in John Dy Brown and it's not Chohndy's Brown's fault. It's just it just felt like they didn't know what to do on that end. And I feel like base more can be some kind of a facsimile of Trevor Reza, right, Like he's not obviously as good a defender, but he's a

lot younger, he has a lot more legs. He had his three ball working tonight as well. I just think that that's something that we can kind of move into. And I'm gonna share this like little play here, bear with him me here, Okay, I'm gonna see if you guys can see it. But this is kind of what I kind of want to see, and this is kind of how the Lakers have to play to me, and again people listening on the podcast feed later on, I'll try I'll just describe it. It's not too complicated, um

all it is. We started this game. We started a d at the five, and we had all guys around, right, we had Russ, a d Baysmore Ellington with Lebron and you had Russ coming up and it was just in transition eight sets a little screen and it's an empty side screen, so they have to come up and he finds Wayne Ellington open in the corner. And I'm just thinking, like, that's kind of how we have to play. And I thought we did, uh and again, I don't know if you can kind of see it, if you guys can

see it in the space or not. But again it's just an empty side screen role. So Russ comes up the left side of the left side of the floor and that's where he likes to come up from left or right. Crossover, gets in the paint two feet in the paint and finds Ellington in the corner and you can just see the spacing on that as well. And I just think that's something that was a positive I thought, and we saw that in the third quarter as well.

They want to They went on an eleven oh run I think to come back in the game, and I think that was a towards the spacing. I thought baysmore Is hitting threes was a big part of it as well. And that was kind of my positive from tonight is that that was the you know, we got a little glimpse of it. I don't remember what the run was. He was and also a d was engaged right Adi started defending. He started to he started to really get engaged on carl Ampy Towns. He started winning the physical battles.

Right Towns couldn't just back him down five again like I said earlier, if adies engaged, there's no way Towns is just doing five dribbles from the free throw line down and getting a jump hook, right. And he was engaging that third quarter. He's winning the physical battles, he was boxing out, he was starting to uh, he started to win that match up a little bit and uh. And I just thought that was something that was a

positive for me in this game. And hopefully when the reason gets back, like I said, he can play that bigmore role Ellington or he can even be Kendrick Nunn. I thought seeing Isaiah Thomas played as well. And I don't think Isaiah Thomas is gonna be a big part of this team. Nothing against him, like I hope he gets a spot in the league. It just made me think of Kendrick Nunn, Like, how Kendrick Nunt can come in. We miss a guy that has a mid range game, right,

I think we. I think that's why Isaiah Thomas pops off the screen so much. That's why he looks so different than any of our other scores. Carmelo has a mid range game, but it's more like back to the basket fade away, right, Carmelo is not really a come off a screen roll and pull up in the mid range. And I thought Isaiah Thomas kind of brought that that kind of spark. He also has a floater. Russell Westbrook is our starting guard, but he doesn't have a floater game.

Lebron James isn't a floater type of guy, right. Lebron is more of a get to the rim, step back three or the fade away jumper. He doesn't take floaters either. A D this year A D honestly is a great He has great floater shots. He just hasn't taken them this year. He hasn't been getting to that as he used to. He hasn't been as mobile in the paint either. And I thought, that's why Isaiah Thomas just popped off the screen of me. It's why his scoring just felt

like it felt like a breath of fresh air. Honestly, this game was awful, by the way, but his scoring kind of just felt like a breath, a breath of fast share to me, just watching watching a guy who can get to the mid range and he's still super quick. And again, I hope he I hope he kind of he kind of gets into it. I'll just go through a few other things that I had in my notes here.

Regyard Jefferson was on the broadcast and he talked about how we have a team full of guys that don't do the little things, and I thought that was so on point, and I just want to bring that up, and I think that's another reason why. And it sucks that Austin Reeves had to come out after probably the game of his life, Like I think that's extremely unfortunate, But I think that's another reason why Austin Reeves just

pops up so much. Right, It's because he does do the little things, and he's a good player outside of that pigeonhole pigeonholing him into just a guy who does a little things also isn't fair. But he does do those things. He goes in and he boxes out, and it's all just institctional, instinctual. You don't have to tell Austin Reeves, hey, go find a body, you know what I mean, Like, you don't have to tell him that.

He just goes and finds a body by himself. And there's one more player I kind of want to sharing here if I could, Okay, if you can see this disengaged play, so again people listening on the podcast and on dash radio. I'll try to I'll explain. I was playing what happens, so Russ misses a layup on one end. I was supposed to slow this down, but I don't

think that was able to. But so if you can kind of rewind, del does a pump fake and Anthony Davis leaves his feet A d doesn't really do that, and that was kind of my start of like, Okay, this guy isn't really just that engaged in this game, leaves this feet for no reason right on D'Angelo Russell, like it's a transition three eighties right there. There's no reason to leave your feet off that leaf, leave you

feed on that takes him out of the play. And then Russ Lebron and then I believe that's Ellington or On on the other side, just staring at the all while Vanderbilt goes and gets it. And the Lakers were annoyed at Vanderbilt tonight, and I thought he was flopping a lot. I thought Lebron was annoyed it as well. But he played. He played harder than our whole team combined for a lot of this night. And he again, I don't like to use the word punk, but he really killed us on the boards. I don't know how

many rebounds he had, but that was really frustrating. And again you saw Baysmore try to box him out and he finally kind of Vanderbilt fell down right and Baseemore kind of looked at him and that was kind of our first like box out right and Lebron is not really a box out guy either, like right now, especially

in this type of game. He had a lot of like tap rebounds right where he just taps it away and when that worked, that's great, but a lot of times, like Minnesota is a team that sends everyone to the boards. Richard Jesman was talking about that as well. I remember seeing that when I went to see them in person as well. They're they're just a physical team and when they're feeling themselves like that's when they really get into it, right,

they'd like to get in you. You saw Patrick Beverley start to just start to really get into it and their team that when they start to get physical, they can be tough. And you saw de Los jumpers going as well. But that was really just disheartening to me. After you know, we won you know, three games in a row coming into this, it would have been nice to take this one. I understand there are a lot

of issues from tonight. There was a lot of COVID situations, There's a lot of people in protocols, and I feel like the team kind of felt that way as well. This didn't feel like a normal basketball game at all. But I feel like we just got out hustle tonight and our stars were not engaged, and I feel like that's why we lost. And again we saw it shot four for twenty from three, and that's part of it as well. But the Wolves gonna hit it three either.

This game was right there, and it was just frustrating to uh to see that. And and hopefully eighties okay. And like I said, that's the caveat for all this stuff, that's the backdrop for everything. There's a lot of jokes about anythin Davis, but this team is going absolutely nowhere if he's not available, Like that's just the honest, the

honest truth. So hopefully he's okay. Uh. And again, like another positive, I think Arisa being questionable tonight got lost in the news like it got lost in the chaos. Trevors was healthy to play tonight. He wasn't gonna play, but he was in uniform, and I think that's great. I think if we can just again this team has been three or theoretical for so long. It's been frustrating, going back to last year, like I talked about this year again, just trying to fit around pieces. All of

our non minimum guys have been out. pH D again being out. Austin Reeves after he plays well is out. Like it's been just a roller coaster. That's been rough. But hopefully, you know, it can go move up here. Hopefully a D s okay um and and we can start to get some get some wins here. Let me check my notes fired anything else from from tonight. I think that was that was pretty much it, man, and I hope we just continue these these as the starters.

Ellington didn't shoot well tonight. I think it was like over six, but he's getting good looks and I think that's all you can ask. And again, this starting lineup we were we were told on media day we're finally getting it. We finally got four of the four the players starting, and hopefully that keeps up. Let's see that's I think that's pretty much what I had for today. I'll try to open it up for some people to come up here. If you want to come up and talk,

even you can request. But it's just a tough one. The Lakers were building good momentum though, man Like I think I think they were building good momentum. I don't think this has to kill it. Obviously. The eight News would be so rough to kind of get. Hopefully it's just hopefully it's a minded things. We've had people in and out. We'll see how COVID kind of rolls to the NBA as we go forward here. This was a rough one. I feel like we got out hustle our

heart out. I'll destroyed by Minnesota team. Man, Minnesota Minnesota team flexing at thirteen and fifteen on us because they felt like this was a game they could get, you know, like that was really frustrating just to watch. But yeah, that was a This was a rough one. All right. Let me I'll get some people up here. I appreciate everyone coming out on a Friday night to spend their Friday Friday night with me. Let me get a few people up here, yo, Well, what's going on? Rode? What's up? Bro?

Are you doing. You know, I'm good man, just feeling your pain, bro. If I've been with you, man, I hope, I hope I don't sound like I'm in too much pain. And I hope that I hope that's not how it came across. I mean, you know, I always talk about appropriate pain and appropriate fear in life, so we can just file it as an appropriate pain man. But I'm pretty sure you'll bounced back later on. But yeah, the one thing, like you talked about it, I was I

was glad to hear. And it's something that it's always I guess you can call it a concern that I have about the Lakers. Is there a team of caveats mainly the Stars where you got Lebron, you know, you you get the whole package. You know, um superstar, one of the best to ever play the game. But when he not engaged, when he want to turn it off, he will turn it off and it will affect everybody around unfortunately. And then with a D you know, we know he want to play before he you know, want

to do guard things. But by the number in some cases some cases, and just by the Lakers being their best, they want to put them at the five. But you know, the body can only take so much for him. So when you combine those two caveats on top of everything else they've been dealing with this year, on top of what you said about always it always being like a man, wait until X, Y, and Z happened, then we're gonna

hit that peak. And then on top of us already getting to that peak winning the championship, knowing what the formula is, and then going away from the formula, it's gonna be super frustrating, um, dealing with like a whole new team, a whole new atmosphere, watching players, you know, with brand new habits that we're just not used to.

And we know these habits don't equal championship basketball. And you know, it's I hope for the best way e d getting hurt because, like you said, without him, I mean pretty much need to just pack it up, Give Lebron the rest of the year, give rest the rest of the year, all to you know, recalibrate, get healthier, and try to go after it next year. I think, um, rest Uh, he'll be a free agent after next year. Right,

Oh man, we we cannot have those discussions like we can. Hey, look man, yeah, we don't want to get that bleak, so you know, and it's it's your it's your host hosted show. So yeah, I won't bring that negative e

gym man. But it's not it's it's not native. It's just I feel like it's, uh, like that's a that's a bridge of cross when you know I'm in front of it, Like I feel like that's such a that's a bridge that's so far away, like even there trading like uh, you know, like trading Russ talk or you know that that's so far away, like that's if a lot of things have to go wrong, I feel like for that too to have opened up, and I just I don't want to entertain those at least yet, you know,

like you never know in the NBA, things move, players move, you know, players move around. But just like that, that feels so far away from where we are. Yeah, absolutely, that's fair, man. And I mean ultimately you can just file this game where as a trap game. Bro like the way everything played out before the game, all the shuffling, and you know, I love to talk about like human nature and like what the coaching staff and the organization has through. Malik Monk got clear was on a fly,

then they say, oh, yeah, he's not playing. You gotta consider stuff like that when it comes to thinking about a coaching stay making the game, playing UM and then having to kind of scrap stuff at the last minute, and then having to integrate players out of the G League that ain't played basketball like this level of basketball in like a while. So it was just like a perfect storm for the end up like it did just at the A D injury on top of that just

make it like super hard to digest. They've still been playing decent basketball lately, still in a way better position than there was a few weeks ago, you know, as far as getting to the sixth place out West and people getting healthier and anticipating them getting back Lebron even with this, think of the night playing better UM and then a D kind of working his way back from injury, because I think that's a big piece with why he kind of looked the way he looked the last game

he played basketball in a while. And it's kind of hard bro go from like zero to sixty. So he gotta like work his way up, gotta warm car up. Well, you said you said this was a trap game, but I feel like if you're two games over, you can't have trap games, right, Like there's like they can't be And I get it. We were shorthanded, and I'm not blaming. I'm not like upset about the laws. It's more like we didn't really give ourselves a chance. Like Lebron had

seven points at halftime. I think a D had eight, had seven as well, Russ had eight points. They had twenty two points combined. Car Anthony Towns at twenty three points at halftime himself. You know, like we just we weren't into this game, and I feel like we're not in a position to be picking like they could have won this game even with being shorthanded as they were in my opinion, like there was there were spots in places to take this game, and we just it wasn't there.

It just wasn't in it. And then obviously eighties injury ended the game. To me, we were on like eleven O run. But that's the stuff I'm seeing, And you're right, eighty needs time to kind of you know, revs engine back up. But like to me, eight has been like this all year, Like this is kind of what we've been getting, right, We've been getting like you know, up games, down games, and he's at a huge load to like carry.

I'm not I'm not saying he hasn't, it's just, you know, it just feels like the engagement drops off too big, like there needs to be a baseline level to stay at. There's like it webbs and ebbs and flows way too way too high and low for for what this team

needs on a night tonight. And that's why to me, we're like we're winning and losing almost every other game, and that's kind of what you get mm hmm, yeah, nets you know, by the same token, like you said about a d kind of going in and out and trying to figure out how to hit that that sweet spot for them to do what they can do best. I mean, that's what they've been doing as a team

all year. They get into these games and I think we talked about it before, like three or four of these games they could just win out with the proper energy. We're talking about a whole new season as far as like how we perceived them, the conversation around them, the different things they can do, as far as having like cushion when you get the winds you're supposed to get, like being able to rest eighty when you see you're

not right or wrestler Brock. But when you play with your food, man, you you know, it's like everything else you're doing life, you can't afford yourself, like the luxuries. You probably need to get down the road and do the things you want to do to be successful and try to win a championship. Yep, I agree, and hopefully, you know, we we keep moving up. Like I felt like we were on a good, good process run here and this was a weird week, weird couple of days

as well with all the COVID protocols and stuff. So hopefully, like you know, Sunday is a chance. I think Chicago has a bunch of people out too, so there's a chance to win that one. It just it was. It sucks that they didn't build on it because I feel like we had a chance tonight to get to get a win and it just didn't happen. But while I appreciate you, I'm gonna try to get through a few more people here before I called that. I call this one to night. I appreciate you, bro. Have a good night, man,

stay safe and go Lakers. Thank you, bro. Yeah, Petty are you there. Yeah, I'm how you doing then? I'm good, I mean relatively, you know, uh in regardless of being a Laker fan. I'm a little frustrated, but I mean outside of it, I'm doing it. That's good. That's what's important.

Tell me what you see from tonight, all right. One, I saw Carl Anthony Towns doing some front running like you mentioned, Like I was baffled, um that a team that had just lost, like you said, like five games in a row, there was a guy out there just acting like this was like the you know, the NBA Finals like that. That was really frustrating to me. And like kind of along the same Linds, what you're saying is like Anthony Davis just he doesn't get up for

for Karl Anthony Towns. I don't know why what it is, but it's just like Carl Anthony Towns is like going to his chest doing hook shots like over him, you know. And it was a little bit frustrating to watch. And I don't want to make too much about him because he's you know, like you said, he has a big load.

And tonight, you know, the first thing you're thinking about, what's him rolling his ankle on on on a body that's on the ground and then follow that up by someone flopping onto his knee and trying to call him soft.

I just can't respect it, you know. But he I don't know why it is that he And it feels like the theme of this team is like not being able to get up for like on a night tonight, eighty two games season, Like it feels like everybody on this team has nothing to prove except for like Austin Reeves, and every time he steps on the court, it's like an injection of energy to this team because it feels like a bunch of people who are just like going

through the motions. Yeah. Man, absolutely, It's it's annoying to watch right after you know, a few years of you did get this like every night tonight playing hard, and I don't expect Lebron to do that. I think that's where I give him a lot of leeway. But you know, the whole point of bringing Russell Westbrook was so that his energy can be contagious. It was supposed to rub off on Anthony Davis. That's just not how the season has really worked out. And there's still time for that.

It's just that's not how I've seen it gone. That's not the way it's played out, and maybe it'll play out that way as we go here. But yeah, it's been frustrating to lose these games, like we have two losses to Okay, see very kind of similar manner, right, Like a very similar manner to where we come out just disengage lack of lack of engagement and the other

team realizes we can get a win. Okay, see Shape, and I'll realized, like I think one of them was without Shape, I don't remember, but but yeah, they look like they can get a win in Memphis as well, right, the same kind of issue. Memphis is a good team though even without John rand there a good team that should that should be a game you win when all three of your stars are healthy and when you're playing five hundred basketball for a lot of the season. But yea,

hopefully it picks up here. There's still good things, like I'm happy Ellington's starting, but I've been I've been painting for that and Ellington's finally starting. He didn't shoot well tonight, but I think could just fits the identity of this team that that we need to get to. So hopefully

it's a positive. I mean no, absolutely, and honestly, like I want to ask you, like, what is the identity of this team, because like that's the like, you know, that's the kind of thing that I'm kind of struggling with. Like for me, I felt like the first year, of course they had a very defense was their identity. Even the second year, I felt like they had they kept

that same identity. There were some pieces that they didn't really fit with it that well, but and there was you know, some some ups and downs with like injury. But like this year, like I'm really trying to figure out, like what's the tone, what's the focus? Doesn't seem like they do anything good enough, you know at all. I really like I'm trying to understand what do you think like the like the heartbeat of his team? And I

can't figure it out myself. Well, I mean to be fair, I think they were like seventh in defense for the last ten games or something. Lebron started to pick it up. Like I think the identity of this team is to run to get stops, create turnovers. They're not really like a defensive team where they you know, lock you down there like a create turnos, create chaos, type of team and then they run out and in that third quarter, man,

we saw some of it. Like I was so excited that they're not just because we went on a run against Minnesota, but I saw like a glimpse into like, oh, this is what will be, you know, Like I saw Basement running down and I thought of like Trevor Reason that role and Lebron and a D running on the break, and he saw Russ. Russ and Braun are starting to get some chemistry and transition, like they'll start to understand

where where they like, where they like the basketball. He saw a D get a lob dunk in the third quarter as well. Um, It's just like to me, that's the identity of space space out. You have Lebron, a D D as your back line engage. There's a play tonight where it was like Karl Anthony Town's I believe had a D on him. They ran a ball screen and then it was like Lebron on him right, So it was like no no advantage created. And that's to me where this team will live. And hopefully when the

Reason gets back he could fit into into that. We'll see if Wayne Ellington continues to start, I think they might even look at th h t in there. But like, to me, like that's the idea, and you have once you have a couple of shooters out there. Hopefully Trevor Reasa can continue to shoot, you know, the thirty that he was shooting Ford to percenting the shooting in Houston. Hopefully he's still doing that, uh, doing that now. But

to me, that's the identity of the man. Were we run a gun, get stops and Vogel starting to imprint, Like I think it's hilarious that, Like we've started to defend really well, and the team was like, here's Isaiah Thomas, Like I think that's I think that's absolutely hilarious. Like we've started he started to really imprint. He started really put an imprint on the defense he wants to play.

We've started to really lock down, Russell Westbrooks getting getting good at you know, chasing over screens, giving back pressure, giving what Vogel wants. And then he just threw Isaiah Thomas into the mix. I don't think Isaia Thomas gonna be here long again. Nothing against him. I hope he's you know, has a I hope he finds a way in the league. I don't think he'll be for this team, but I hope he finds a way. But yeah, I

think I think that's the identity. Man. We're starting to figure it out defensively, and it would suck if a d comes out because I feel like we were building something, even though tonight wasn't a great, you know picture of that, like if we can get our team healthy. We were out five rotation guys tonight, Minnesota didn't have Anthony Edwards as well, But I think we were building something and tonight hopefully doesn't doesn't stop that momentum fully. Absolutely, It's funny.

It's like all of this doom and gloom I think, you know, because this team has expectations obviously with the bringing in like, you know, such a polarizing player, and and you know what the controversy with you know, just how how people how people view Anthony Davis, and of course, like anywhere Lebron goes, it's like a whole you know,

or deal by itself. But like, I don't know, I feel like this team they don't they don't they act like they've won something already or like that they like they're just kind of like trying to get to the playoffs, you know, and it's like you can't. I don't know. That's how I feel like. I feel like you're right like the last I think as soon as we start to get like, you know, um, you know, some momentum, things start to you know, something happens, like someone gets out.

But at the end of the day, we're still like a five hundred teams. It's not like we're like, you know, four and twenty or something like that, and we're still in the playoff pictures. So I gotta you gotta keep perspective. I guess. Yeah, for sure, it's not you know, season not over. There's still some good process uh stuff that I'm seating and hopefully that continues. Uh, Patty mcguy, I

appreciate you, man. I'm trying to answer them. Some other people up here, yeah, my guy, all right, let's see, Uh, j Rod is connecting. There's a lot of people requested, all right, let's see, all right, Joe, are you there? I think it says you're up here. Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Rog. How are you doing, Buddy good? How are you joking? A good man? Good? Um? I just got a quick question, you know, how is how was the chemistry between Lebron and a D this year. As far as on the court,

I know they do. I know they do a lot of the postgame interviews and stuff like that, but it just seems like something is just off with them, you know, I don't. I don't know. Maybe I maybe I'm just because this team has so many different types of things that happened that I'm just maybe over analyzing. But I just want to get your view of it. Um, what did you see? And then also, how did that Rondo

Russ pairing look this time? I know that the game was just joined it but didn't look halfway decent or just whatever. We're just trying to get through this game. I guess I'll start with Rondo. I hated the Rondo lineups tonight, and I think Rondo has a very clear every night. Rondo has a very clear like if he has it or doesn't have it, you know, it's like it's it pops off the screen. I thought that Patrick Beverley thing would wake him up a little bit, but

it didn't. Um. You just it's a lot of activity and it's not really productive. Um, he runs up the court again. Playoff. Rondo is a is a different at and what we kind of saw that, but that's not what we're what we got tonight. And I don't like him next to Westbrook either. I thought that pairing is just it just kills your spacing. And Vogo didn't really have a like a choice. I can't get mad at him out of like to see Rondo and Lebron kind

of have their minutes fluctuated a little differently. And if you're gonna play Isaiah Thomas, to me, like, you don't need Rondo on the floor. Like to me, that's like again, we had some Rondo Westbrook Isaiah Thomas lineups, which is just very confusing to me. But yeah, like I didn't really like those lineups. They haven't worked all year Rondo with another ball handler unless it's Lebron because he's Lebron,

but another ball lander just doesn't work. Russ th ht any of those guys you put next to Rondo dozen't makes it lebrono a d chemistry. Man. I don't know. I don't think they've had the reps. I don't think they haven't had very many games where both of them are super engaged. Um. I think the Boston game is one of them. Where where both of them were kind of on, especially that second half, but both of them have kind of come in and out of games. Lebrons

really picked it up the last ten games. Eighties played well in those times, but again they're trying to fit Russ around it as well. You're not seeing as many Lebron a D with like three spacers, so you don't see at a lot of Lebron eighties screen actions. It's still a lot of just Lebron post ups are a D post ups. They're doing a lot of separate actions instead of actions that they run together that that they used to and I think that, again is a lot of trying to fit Russ into it. I think they're

fine though. I think those two know how to play with each other. That's like my least of the worries about this team, and my worries about this team aren't even like playoff level. It's just night to night effort, night to night game, night to night habit building because I feel like when it matters, they're good enough to turn it up. It's just it's annoying to watch it on a night to night basis of them building bad habits. But yeah, I think a d and bronchemistry is fine.

I don't think that's something I worry about, at least at least for now. Cool. Cool. And also do you think, um, do you think they will make uh like a move for Jeremy Grant or somebody like that, or do you think they with with things being just so inconsistent, they might just ride this thing out and see how far they can go. Maybe if they can, you know, catch a break and get healthy and get some continuity. Man Like to me, I mean, I'm sure they'll keep their

options open. I just think that's so far. Like THHD can't even trade un till I think January or something like that, so that's still a couple of weeks away. I think they want to see what this team looks like healthy, and I would too, um and Jeremy Grand If you can get Jeremy Grant, I think that that's great to me. Like to me, I look at it from the other side, like, why would Detroit kind of do that. I feel like if they open up things for Jeremy Grant, they're gonna get a lot of players,

a lot of people offering. So I want to see this team healthy first, man. I want to see what it looks like. I don't think we've really seen it yet. I think if you can get a great player like that, that's fine. Even the Miles Turner you know, talks and all that stuff. I just don't think THHD brings you that back. That's why I don't really entertain those much. But who knows, maybe they love it. But yeah, I think they make some kind of move that they've never stayed.

You know, they've never stayed pat every single trade deadline, they've done something, whether it's bringing Andre Drummond or whoever. So I think they'll definitely do something. But I don't expect a big trade. I don't expect like Aen Calves type of type of retool of the roster, you know, like I think we're gonna kind of keep with this team. Okay, all right, appreciate route well, bro, you too, Joe. I

appreciate it. I'm a I'm anna call it and I here. Uh. I appreciate everyone for coming out tonight on a Friday night. This was a tough one, I know, but hopefully hopefully I didn't I didn't kill the spirits too much and try to try to bring some positivity to it. Again, thank you for tuning into this day of the Lakers post game. We'll be back on Sunday Night. I think Jason will be back on that one as well, where

we play the Chicago Bulls. Um yeah. Happy Holidays, Thanks for everyone listening, Stay safe, and I'll see you guys next time.