Lakers Winning Streak Snapped By Pistons

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Winning streak end at nine.

Still, what a run.

It's been for the Lakers during this streak.

They didn't play great basketball tonight.

Didn't play their best.

Certainly didn't shoot their best.

Had a rough night shooting the ball.

Just 28% from three.

Meanwhile, Detroit.

A legitimately bad three-point shooting team.

42% from deep.

And oftentimes that's all it takes to flip a game in the NBA.

Of course, a lot more happened here than just some shooting numbers that skewed things in this one.

A lot of stuff to get into.

Happy to see y'all here.

And let's dive into this.

So the Lakers.

No Marcus Smart.

No Rui Hachimura.

I thought not having Marcus Smart definitely impacted things quite a bit.

Even Rui just to get somebody who can knock down a three for them.

Even though he's been a bit more hit or miss in terms of his overall quality

off the bench for the Lakers.

He can do some good things for him and they could have used his shooting in this one.

I thought the Lakers lack of depth exposed a little bit here.

Jared Vanderbilt played fine.

I had no issue.

I thought he did some good things out there.

Vando in 15 minutes.

Got some run for the first time in quite a while.

Off the bench for the Lakers.

A dude hero even got onto the court for a few possessions.

Only played two minutes.

But LeBron James finishes with 12 points.

Tennessee's nine boards nearly a triple double.

But four turnovers, four attend shooting.

Despite some good moments,

it wasn't LeBron's best performance overall.

But he did some good things defensively and really battled in the paint on the boards.

Jake Laravia got the start with Marcus Smart and Rui Hachemura not available.

And Laravia, he hustled.

He played hard.

Delv after a loose ball forced a jump ball and another one.

But seven points three or four shooting.

The shooting was the problem in this one.

But also made the big mistake.

Fighting on a Dennis Jenkins pump fake.

Late they gave him a couple of free throws.

Jenkins ultimately closed out the game.

For the pistons he had a career night against the Lakers.

No, he is not.

People look at him and say who like this is just some scrub.

He is a good player.

He doesn't typically score like this.

But he is a good legitimate player and a real find for the Detroit pistons.

So don't look at it and say like, oh my god.

This is just this nobody player.

No, he's a very good player.

But nonetheless, still hurts when a guy goes off for a career night like that.

11 of 18 shooting for Jenkins four of five from three.

Again, that's not him.

That's not normally him.

He's a he's a player that would be awesome for the Lakers.

But four of five from deep and 11 of 18 from the field.

It was a random heater for for Jenkins.

That was unfortunate that it happened in this one.

Deandre I thought DA played a legitimately very good game in this.

I really liked what we saw at a DA.

Everything what we needed to see we saw in terms of stepping up to this battle

against Jalen Durin.

13 points 10 boards.

Four of them offensive.

Five of six from the field.

Three of four at the line.

Got a big one of a rare stop on Jenkins late on a drive.

Slid his feet stayed with him.

Went up two hands contested without fouling.

I thought Deandre and had a really nice game.

In fact, I thought both Lakers big.

Did some really positive things out there.

Jackson Haynes had a bad mistake where he dropped the pass from Austin Reaves.

It would have been a dunk out of bounds.

Just fumbled it.

But 11 points for Haynes.

Four blocks.

He was doing a great job contesting in the paint, especially on Ron Holland.

Got a couple of blocks on him.

Four blocks plus two steals.

So six stocks for Jackson Haynes.

He did a nice job.

Reaves, seven of 15 shooting.

Two of six from three.

Got going late.

Hate to hit the Lakers big bucket at the end to put them up one.

Then Detroit came back scored.

Austin contested on Jenkins.

It did about as good of a job contesting as you could ask.

Was right on the shot.

And Jenkins still hit the baseline fade away.

Anyway, that was just the kind of night he was having five assists for Austin.

Three turnovers hurts a little bit.

Was getting fouled a lot.

Same thing with Luca was getting fouled like crazy.

We'll talk of course about the officials.

They were.

They put themselves in the spotlight in this game.

The officials did.

We'll talk about them.

But eight and nine at the line in 40 minutes.

Luca 39 minutes 32 points.

But 11 of 29 shooting.

And that's exactly what you want to do if you're an opponent.

You're not going to stop Luca from scoring.

You just want to make him do it inefficiently.

And that's what Detroit was able to accomplish tonight.

11 for 29 from Luca.

Four for 10 from LeBron.

7 to 15 from Austin.

That's a little better.

But two of six from three.

Luca three for 13 from three.

Seven board six assists.

Three steals.

But three turnovers as well.

I thought Luca was a little slow rotating defensively.

A couple of times as well.

Luke Canard one of five shooting and one of five from three.

That was also, you know,

we talk about this was a very, very, very

winnable game for the Lakers.

Luca shot 11 of 29.

Luke Canard shot one of five from three.

Like any of those things go the normal way.

And this is a win for the Lakers.

But they didn't.

And this is what happened sometimes with shot variance.

Now give Detroit credit.

I thought they played hard in this game.

They played hard.

But and manufactured a lot of intensity for themselves.

They will again, we'll talk about the

officiating.

It was rough.

Very the referee said a really rough night.

But Detroit played very, very hard.

They played like this game mattered a lot to them.

This was a game that Detroit went after in a big way.

They cared very much about stopping the Lakers streak

and getting the win in this one.

And they went after it.

And they got they got what they wanted here.

All right.

Let's get into this once again,

nine game winning streak for the Lakers comes to an end.

I can't think of a logical basketball reason.

Reves is on the floor for those defensive

possessions with multiple timeouts

that we didn't even use on offense anyway.

I mean, I guess the option would have been to sub-reves

for say, Vando in that moment and let Vando try to guard Jenkins.

I thought Reves contested very well on that last jumper

that he hit along the baseline.

Other than that, it was what Jenkins got to the

free throw line on the LaRavia play.

But then that that would have been the option, right?

Would be to go to Vando.

And maybe it's a longer arm of Jared Vanderbilt

contesting there rather than Austin.

And if you're going to call a timeout after that anyway,

I get it.

Sure, I think you can make that argument.

I didn't think Austin defended poorly on that that final shot.

But yeah, it could make the the argument certainly to go with Vando

and try to get longer arms in front of Jenkins who just was on fire all game.

I didn't I didn't think Reves played poorly defensively.

But maybe a longer arm contesting on that could have helped.

Bronnett 41 can get punched in the face.

And maybe the one who gets called for an offensive foul.

And Lucas mindset is shoot, shoot, shoot.

When it comes to the last shots, you got to make the right plays, man.

Yeah, Luke had got kind of stopped on that last possession.

The pass was over the top to generate the three.

The Lakers have ran that before.

That was why Maxi subbed in because he tends to be the screener on that play.

And Detroit did a good job covering it.

But Luke had to get the ball moving in that moment.

Instead, he tried to I think he was helping if he pumped fake.

The defender would bite and then he'd get three free throws.

But didn't happen.

And ultimately, Luke had to just throw up a crazy turnaround over Dura.

And that didn't, you know, didn't go well.

As far as LeBronk get punched in the face, I was bewildered.

I do think two things.

I was bewildered by how poorly the referees officiated this game.

It was exactly the referee crew.

That the pistons needed in order to win this game.

It was exactly the referee crew they needed.

You needed a crew that was going to come in and not call it tight, not call it close.

Because the pistons commit more fouls than any team in the NBA.

They are the highest foul team.

They their whole mentality is foul every possession.

And just trust that the referees will not call them all foul, foul, foul.

And then foul some more.

And trust that the referees will not call it every time.

And they got away with a ton in this game.

A bunch of fouls on LeBron James.

A bunch of Austin Reeves get, I mean, just straight across the arms gets hit.

And it goes across half court because he gets hit by herder.

Nope, turnover Lakers.

I mean, it was, it was abysmal stuff from the officials in this one.

And the Lakers were certainly frustrated.

That was surprising how bad the officiating was.

The Lakers have to be able to overcome that.

There's going to be physical games.

But I'll tell you what the most surprising thing was, was that

JJ didn't use the challenge late to undo some of these bad calls.

That was a surprise.

That was a surprise.

That the Lakers didn't, against a team that

their ethos, like what is at the core of this team is committing fouls

to not use your challenge there to try to highlight some of it because they foul a ton.

And a lot of it, they do do very well hiding.

But to not use your challenge to undo some of that advantage was a surprise.

And very un JJ like who's been pretty aggressive using, using challenges.

So unless I am misremembering something and he didn't have one for, I could have sworn he had a challenge late though.

And didn't wind up using it.

So that was a surprise.

JJ had two changes to put in Vando for defense.

Yeah, I mean, look, before the game, I talked about it.

I talked about how I could see I figured he was probably going to go with Laravia.

But you could make an argument for Vando to try to keep your rotations about the same

and continue to bring Laravia off the bench.

But JJ before the game obviously made the choice that it was going to be Laravia

that he was going to go with over Jared Vanderbilt.

So he made that choice and he stuck with it.

Would Vando have defended that differently?

Perhaps, you know, we'll see, we'll never know for sure, but maybe Vando will get,

I don't think Vando did anything here to take away opportunities moving forward.

I thought he played fairly well.

But JJ made the decision to go with Laravia.

He stuck with it.

Didn't work out on that final play.

Laravia had been on a bump fake landed on Jenkins and that was that.

Why not sub in Vando with LA up when Detroit called time out for the defensive possession?

Why not call a time out if they go up 111 109 for the last shot?

Yeah, I mean, like that, what 24 seconds left, Luca gets the ball and the Lakers still had a time

out. I thought they were going to burn one there.

I was a one point game at that point. Detroit was up one.

I thought the Lakers were going to burn the time out at that point and then try to get a quick

bucket going the other way to answer the Lakers just couldn't get stops when they needed them

in crunch time there. But that was definitely unfortunate that that JJ didn't use the time out

of that one because it turned into a Luca a fine shot. But Luca wasn't hidden tonight.

It was 11 of 29. Some of that was Detroit. Some of that was officiating.

Some of that was just an off shooting night for Luca. All of that comes into play.

But yeah, it was it was a miss by Luca on that possession. That was really it, right?

Because they were going back and forth and back and forth. Detroit would score the Lakers would score

Detroit would score the Lakers would score back and forth and then Detroit scored in the Lakers

missed. And that was effectively the game. hindsight 2020. Yeah, JJ should have used the time out.

But I think he had a good sense that hey, there's probably another possession coming and I'm

going to save the time out. And who knows, maybe I'll need to use a challenge here. And it just

it didn't go his way. The things that JJ tried ultimately didn't work out in this one.

The big decisions that he had to make ultimately didn't work out.

So that was not ideal.

So sick of Luca foul grifting one-legged floaters.

We got fouled a ton. Detroit just hacked the hell out of the Lakers all game.

Practically a turnover and then he compounds it by not getting back bad habits one tonight.

Luca didn't shoot well. Luca has shot very well recently. He is a bad shot maker.

I'm not everybody has a bad shooting night sometimes. And when you

when your shots are not falling and you can't get a whistle on shots that you're getting fouled on,

that's going to make your shooting percentage drop even worse. This was a bad shooting night

for Luca. But I would love to see I would love to have seen a better look on that final three.

But even like the one-legged floater, there were a couple of times where he got legitimately

fouled on it and did a better job not, you know, losing his mind and complaining to the point

of getting a tech. I don't know. I have a hard time. This was an off shooting night for Luca.

But I have a hard time being to upset with Luca overall. He's been phenomenal.

Like why why are we mad at Luca right now?

Luca's been crushing it. I don't that doesn't make sense to me.

Luca is averaging 49% from the field, 40% from three and 37 points per game for the month of March.

Like you're going to have a bad shooting game every now and then. He had one tonight.

Like that that'll happen. Had one last game against Orlando.

But guess what he did the game before that? He dropped 60 on 53% shooting from three.

The game before that. He had 40 on 41% shooting from three. Like

I don't know. I'm not going to be mad at shooting variants. And Luca's made some really tough shots.

So I'm not going to be too upset. Jenkins put up 30 on AR. Oh, Austin was the only one defending him.

I didn't realize that. Luca 11 of 29. Wow. Pass. Yeah. He did not shoot well. This game. No question.

No question. He did not shoot well. Neither did LeBron. Four for 10. Four turnovers.

For LeBron. Had 10 assists. Had nine boards. I love some of the passing.

We saw in LeBron did a great job on the boards. He did have a great great game. Score the ball either.

Man, I know this is only one game, but you can clearly see we have an athleticism deficit.

And we were going to get picked apart in the playoffs last year. We were playing good and then

got bounced in the first round. Oh, yeah. I mean, we've known there's an athleticism deficit all season.

That's a problem against teams like Detroit that have a ton of athleticism fly around all over

the place. Detroit played very, very hard in this game. But yes, the athleticism deficit and

an abnormal shooting game from Detroit caught up to that. Now, this is the second time this season

Detroit has done this though. Had a out of body experience shooting the basketball 42% from three for

one of the absolute worst shooting teams in the NBA. They live off of offensive rebounds and

free throws. That's why I don't have Detroit making it to the East Finals because they're such a

poor shooting team. But this is the second time they played the Lakers. Well, they have shot

abnormally well, like outlier well from three and from the field, but mostly from three 42%

from three in the game. But so that was a big factor here. I thought the Lakers did. The second

quarter was the biggest problem where the everything else was fine. The second quarter though,

the Lakers lost 42 to 25. Detroit put up 42 points and hit five threes in the quarter and the

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That quarter ultimately cost them the game. Every other quarter, the Lakers held the pistons

just fine. 23 points in the first, 24 points in the third, 24 points in the fourth. The second

quarter got away from them and that's the game. The pistons have a normal second quarter

and the Lakers despite not playing very well win this game.

They had one really, really hot quarter and that effectively ended it.

Can't believe we let Danis Jenkins drop 30 on us. He's a legitimately good player.

Like he's competed hard. I got to admit, I'm a fan of his game. I like the way that he plays.

He plays very, very hard, scrappy, tenacious defense, fearless, hit some big shots.

It kind of comes around to no work type of guy that has been a really good find for Detroit.

Is he this good? No, this is a very, very hot night for him.

But he played very, very well.

I can't win them all onto the next review and go. Yeah, now the Lakers have. They close out the

road trip against Indy and they've got three in a row remaining that the Lakers will be heavy

favorites going into. Oh my gosh. Seriously, Chicago was up 20 on Houston and now it's just a

four point Chicago lead with 11 minutes to play in the fourth. So that's done. Chicago's almost

certainly going to lose that. Four points is not enough of a cushion with 11 minutes to play.

Because we got to keep an eye on some of the rest of the teams around the West.

The Lakers still have a pretty good cushion for the three seed, but got to make sure they win

the next three. The next three you have to bank. It's Indy, Brooklyn and Washington. You have to

take all three of those. Not having Marcus Smart cost them the game. He gets that stop on Jenkins

when L.A. was up one. Nice run. Still think this teams a year away. Yeah, I mean not, not having

smart definitely hurts. Now you can also look and say, well, the pistons didn't have Cade.

And that's true, but they basically did. Right. Like it's when you get role players to shoot as

well as the pistons role players did that essentially replaces that star level players production.

So when Jenkins gives you 30 and Duncan Robinson's hit and threes the way he was, that basically replaces

the production of a Cade Cunningham. Now of course, they still miss his playmaking and all of that,

but it's not like Cade's production just completely disappeared because those possessions that Cade

would have used were used by guys who were successful on those possessions that they inherited

from Cade. So it's not like Detroit, you know, with Cade, they beat the Lakers by 25 because Cade would

have put up 25. No, those shots that Cade would have taken were taken by guys that largely hit those

shots. So the Lakers not having a defensive player like smart certainly hurt not having a player

like Ruby, even somebody who can shoot from outside that did hurt them. But again, this was a

winnable game. This was a very winnable game. And the Lakers just couldn't get enough shots to drop

when they needed to and couldn't get stops when they needed to.

Jay. Is that Jake Laravia? Missed the foul on Ivy to be left into foul as Jenkins lost his footing.

Luca, no legs all game. I don't remember the missed foul on Ivy.

That had to be like Ivy's no longer a piston. So that had to be last game. Luca, no legs all

game should have sat more. JJ has to let Vando fly more. Yeah, Vando played what? 15 minutes.

I could have seen a defensive substitution for Vando late. That would have made some sense.

JJ pulled a Darwin ham this game. Never used his challenge. Didn't call a timeout on the

possession that put the pistons up one. Yeah, I think he wanted, I think he knew there was going

to be another possession like I think JJ's decisions. We can look at them and say, well, it didn't

work in hindsight and criticize JJ for them not working. But I can understand the rationale behind

them. I personally liked the idea of starting Vando. He started Laravia. I don't think starting

Laravia was indefensible. In fact, Jake even went one of two from three. Not that he had a great

game, but he went one of two from three. But not using the timeout when he could have used it.

He saved it for the next possession. Not using the challenge when there were multiple plays where

the pistons just hacked the Lakers. The Lakers could have at least gotten another possession out of

it. I mean, like the Austin half court turnover. That would have been easily another. I mean,

harder just smacked them right across the arms and shoulder blocked them. Like, would have been

an easy quick review to keep the possession. But JJ didn't use it there. So,

yeah, it was it was strange. Strange from that perspective that we didn't see them use some more of

their their challenges. Of course, I prefer a win, but can't be too mad after the stretch we had.

We were going to have a game like this at some point on to the next. Yeah, you knew it would happen

at some point. You knew what would happen at some point. At some point, they would win

up dropping a game. They weren't going to win out the rest of the way. I thought Detroit played

very, very hard. They really competed. They very clearly wanted that game very badly. They really

wanted that game. But they got exactly what they needed. They got exactly what they needed from

the officials. They got exactly what they needed in terms of their three point shooting and outlier

three point shooting game. And they played very, very hard. They really competed and went after

that game. And so you give Detroit credit. They did what they needed to do in order to get the win.

JJ did use the challenge and you lost. No, the broadcast said that he did not use the challenge on

that that he didn't he called time out and then didn't challenge.

All right, let's keep going here.

And game was five versus eight. Look, again, it's so it's Detroit, OK, see Santa Antonio to a degree,

not to the same degrees, OK, seeing Detroit. The officiating crew that you draw, very important

in those games. You get an official officiating crew that calls a tight. They're going to rack up

tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of fouls. You get officiating crew the calls

the way they did tonight. And they're going to be in good shape. So it's very abnormally important

or outsized importance when you play those teams. What kind of officiating crew you get because

that's what their defensive game plan is. It's to try to force turnovers and fouling and all of that.

And for the day, the outplayed, they outworked the Lakers tonight. I don't think there's any

question Detroit played a better game than the late. It's not like I look at this result and say,

oh my gosh, this was just a travesty or something like that. No, no, I thought Detroit played

better than the Lakers did in this one. The shot making was certainly better.

Winning back to back eight on five games is tough. Yeah, I mean, it was a lot of the same

problems that the Lakers had with the officiating crew in the Orlando game. Same problems

that they had with that crew. And once again, Luke, you can't pick up another tech.

But it's very similar issues. I'm not worried because they never gave up. They'll pick it up

against the three tanking teams. Yeah, that's the only downside, right? Is now you're playing three

teams in a row that you've got teams that are tanking. And you're not going to get a credit

for beating those teams. Nonetheless, though, when we look at the West standings, very important

that you that you beat those teams, you have to pick up wins over those teams.

Gotta stack those wins because after that, you run up against, okay, see, and some teams like that.

Yeah, and again, you cannot take to the Pacers really win tonight. I hope so. They should be

extra motivated. Oh, they did. They beat Orlando. They'll be extra motivated then to lose the

game against the Lakers. Next go round. Yikes. That's like Sacramento accidentally going 500 in the

last 10 games. What are they doing? So the Lakers now still two games up right now on Houston,

but Houston, I'm assuming they're going to beat Chicago. Yeah, so they've already tied it.

They'll beat the bulls. So the Lakers will be a game and a half up. Remember, they also have

the tiebreaker over Houston. They have the tie break over Denver. They have the tie break over Minnesota.

We look at the standings. Those could certainly be a factor here.

Nine and one in their last 10. Can't complain too much.

Guys, if you're commenting the same thing over and over and over, I'm just going to boo you.

Don't do that.

Don't just comment the same thing over and over and over and span the chat. There's no reason to do it.

Fatigue starting to set in, but it's no excuse.

Need more on and off-ball movement when there are no shooters in the lineup. So that's one of

the things that Detroit's high pressure defense does is it stops you from really getting into your

typical offensive sets because they put so much pressure and delays the start of your offense.

And so you kind of have to do a lot of improvising on the fly.

But I do think, yeah, do the Lakers look a little worn out? Probably.

Probably do. And look a little worn out. And that's where can you find a way to get some rest

in some of these next few games? Ideally, and this is part of why you're hoping to lock up the

3C to soon as possible. Ideally, you'd like the last. So now there's 10 games remaining.

I'd like the last two games of the season to not matter, especially because one of them is

against the suns. It's second night of a back-to-back. Then the final game against Utah.

You want to have time to get your legs rested up because very clearly the Lakers have been playing

very hard during this stretch. They've been in some, you know, an overtime game. They've been in

games that have gone deep into the fourth quarter. Very close games and clutch time.

And I'd like to see them get some rest for their legs here. So you've got to find a way to

continue to build separation here. So let it find that 3C just quickly as possible so that you can

take your foot off the gas pedal here.

AR had the hot hand. I don't understand why we gave the ball to a player just because he's the

best on the theme. Whoever's hot should get the ball. Maybe they don't buy in to the hot hand.

Metall, I don't know what JJ's thoughts on that are. But they went to Luca. They ran a play to

get Luca. The goal was to get Luca an open shot for three. And that was an interesting

choice. I mean, it wasn't a bad choice. But Luca had not been shooting well in the game,

but clearly JJ trusted and Luca did hit a big shot just a few games ago to win the game.

So could he have gone elsewhere? Sure. But he dialed up the play for Luca. It's your best

player. You're putting the hands, the ball on your hands, your hands, your best player.

I don't know. Did it? Did it work? No. And if it did work, everybody would be saying,

oh, look, JJ Redick's a genius, right? He drove that play. It didn't work out. But I tend to think

planning something to get an open look for your best player tends to not be a bad idea.

Yeah. Let's go Lakers. Hey, it happens. Yep. Yep. It happens.

Bulls lost the lead. Yep. Yeah. You know, it's coming Houston's just chalk up that

win for Houston, basically. And if Chicago happens to win, we'll count it as a happy surprise. But

Chicago blew the lead. They had a huge lead. And they got outscored 39 to 30 in the third.

And they're being outscored 22 to 13 in the fourth. That's that Houston's going to have that win.

Not even tripping about this. They're shooting covered up for not having Cade. Yeah. They

basically the same as them having Cade because they shot so well, so abnormally well,

that it basically made it the same. Played eight on five. The whole game didn't shoot well.

It was close. We move. Yeah.

You played a team that threw everything at you, shot way above their heads.

And you were right in it till the end. And just didn't execute down the stretch. Didn't get the

shot that you needed. Missed a couple times. They scored. Again, unfortunate.

They were on a nine game win streak playing some of their best basketball this season.

Coming up with some incredible wins. You know, it happens.

LaRavia is barely better than Vando. I mean,

LaRavia. He's done some good things defensively. He's a ball mover on offense.

Tonight, he made a big mistake on that defensive play and foul Jenkins.

That was that was the big moment. He did some other good things in the game, but

and he actually knocked down the three. The biggest issue for him has been he's been missing shots.

He knocked down his three tonight. It was one of two from three.

So, you know, Jake does a good job attacking in the paint.

Does a good job on the glass for his size? He's not. He didn't have a big rebound game.

This one only won rebound, but does a good job in general on the offensive glass.

He's got things that he brings. The thing that he has struggled at lately, he's a very

loud thing and that's shooting. And so that's a very loud thing. So I think there's a lot of

negativity around Jake right now in terms of the fan base because you're seeing, oh my god,

that guy air ball to three. And that races and negates a lot of the other kind of little offball

things that he does, at least in the minds of fans. He's a good player. He's a interesting piece

for the future here for the Lakers as well. Six million dollars on the books next year.

Are you watching more out of the starting line? Absolutely. Absolutely. And not having Marcus

Smart definitely hurt the Lakers, not having him in there. But Jake is a solid role player

on this team. There's some things he can do very well. There's some things that he can't.

On that final play was not good there. And the question is, is Jake's offense good enough

to be better than what Jared Vanderbilt would bring you? And you could argue that in this game,

flipping LaRavia and Vando's minutes would have been beneficial to LA.

JJ went with LaRavia. I think it was arguable like why he should do that. But I think Vando

may have earned some more opportunities with the way he played tonight. I thought he was pretty good.

What was the point of playing a do for just two minutes? Two would do. I don't know.

That was surprising to see a do-theorow play just two minutes. I wasn't expecting to see him come

in the game at all. He immediately got fouled. They were trying to get somebody to stick with

Dennis Jenkins and didn't have Marcus Smart. So they just said, let's throw a do-theorow at him.

But it was a little weird. Is that a do-theorow? Is it really a, isn't really a guard defender?

Like he can be. But to task him with defending the small quick guard was a little surprising.

But yeah, I didn't understand just giving him two minutes. And that was it. Maybe JJ just

wanted some fresh legs in for a moment. I mean, he really only ran. I think this is part of the

problem too. You ran an eight man rotation and gets the team that just grinds you into the ground,

right? I mean, the way they hustle and fly over the floor.

So that was an issue too. You lost smart and you lost Ruiachamura. So your nine man rotation,

rather than have two other players sub in, it became an eight man rotation.

And part of that is an indictment of the Lakers depth overall.

But this was a game, especially at this stage of a road trip, where you probably could have used

a few more fresh legs to turn and turn to deep in your bench. And the Lakers just did not have that.

JJ going from that game versus Orlando with the lead play calling from ATOs to today,

where he absolutely looks clueless as ridiculous. Three dudes did. Was the play calling ridiculous?

They ran a play that has got them open threes in the past. Was that bad? I thought Detroit did a

good job taking the Lakers out of a lot of what they were looking to do. I think sometimes we get caught

up in the play call is good or bad, based on whether or not the ball goes in the basket. Like,

for example, the against Orlando last time, not this most recent time, but the time before the

Lakers dialed up a play. Got Luca open behind the arc and then he just made the wrong decision.

The play worked. It got Luca open.

He got him open. They didn't make the right play in that moment. But the goal of the play was to

get the ball into the hands of your best player with a look. On this play, they got it to Luca.

And unfortunately, it didn't work out there. Luca didn't make the right decision in the moment.

Detroit did a good job defending it. And that was that. But I don't think that makes the

JJ worse of a play collar. Sometimes defenses do a good job. That can happen.

All right, let's go here doesn't matter of Reeves tries his hardest for one possession. You should put

your best guys in the situation. You're letting the pistons off the hook. So subbing in Bando. Yeah,

I think you can definitely make the argument for subbing in Bando. Especially when you've got a time

out. If you didn't have a time out, I would get it because they'd say, okay, we're going to trust Austin

defend on this. And I didn't again, Austin did a good job defending it. But maybe it would have

been nice to have the long arms of Bando to contest on that. Austin did a good job defending that

baseline shot from Jenkins. He had a really good contest on it. But hindsight's 2020 and

it's the same conversation we had against Phoenix late. Shouldn't you have sub players when

you had a time out? And he did sub offense defense, but it was just Connard and Laravia. And that

was it that he subbed. Austin did have some steals in this game. Did a nice job there. Actually,

it wasn't credited with any steals. It's interesting. There were a number of times where he swiped

down. I think they wind up with a loose ball and somebody else picked them up. But yeah,

you can argue they should have subbed in Bando and got with him. Just to have more size out there

on the court. JJ was subbing out Connard for defensive purposes, but didn't sub Austin, Reluca.

Mission 86 says guys, friends, we are nine and one in our last 10. Let's not get to down.

Losing socks, but we're in a good place onto the next one. Yeah, some positivity there. By the

way, Chicago now up one with two minutes to play over Houston. We'll see where that ultimately goes.

Yeah, not fun to lose a game, but they just won nine in a row. Like, I don't think the takeaway

coming out of this should be should be, oh, well, that erases everything they just did.

No, they ran into a team that had an abnormal shooting night and above their head shooting night

and played very, very hard. And the Lakers shot very poorly that that happens. And did the

Lakers make some mistakes decision-making wise? Yeah, rotation wide. Sure. Yeah, mistakes were

absolutely made. But I don't think this suddenly means, oh, no, that's it. Everything gets erased.

Lakers are bad. I would guess there's not going to be a lot of games where Luka shoots 11 of 29.

And three of 13 from three. I would guess

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Gambling problem called 1-800-Gambling. Let's see. Don't care game too close.

Refs cost L.A. the game. I mean, look, you're going to deal with officials that

make mistakes. Happens all the time. I mean, the NBA, the NBA came back and said that Paula

Bankero did not file LeBron James on that last possession against Orlando.

Like, that's the league offices looking at that. And they're wrong. They're completely wrong.

And anyone watching it can obviously see it. That's going to happen though.

They're going to get things wrong. Now, it drives me crazy when you get things wrong on review,

when you can slow it down and watch it and see it's a foul. And anyone can see it's a foul. And

even people who don't know basketball that well would look at that and go. It's a foul.

But you got to be able to play through officials. They're going to make mistakes. Look at the

college game. All kinds of mistakes being made. Officials are human beings. And there's going

to be mistakes. So you got to be able to play through it. You got to be able to find a way

to win. Sometimes you have to win despite the officials. And tonight was one of those nights.

Again, Detroit got the officiating crew they needed in this game. They need a crew that is

going to let everything go. That's advantage to Detroit. And that's what they got.

LeBron got hacked across the arms. How many times? Right in front of them. I mean, looking right at him.

Nothing. But that's where you still got to find a way. And the Lakers have done a nice job

overcoming it Orlando. Same way. So many mistakes made by that officiating crew.

And the Lakers found a way in that one. You got to find a way.

And you know what? There's going to be calls that go for the Lakers that go against other teams.

There's going to be calls. There's going to be nights where the Lakers get calls.

And other teams come out of a shake in their head called Lakers. Of course, they're getting

they're getting all the calls. That's going to happen.

There'll be nights that it goes the Lakers way. Tonight was not that night.

Let's see what this one is. The more we know some Laker count on X said the real MVP wouldn't miss

two game winning shots. And it's just SGA highlights. I mad at the loss, but Lucas still may

MVP. See, that's probably not like that's probably not a Lakers account. That's someone masquerading

as a Lakers account. I don't even want to venture a guess at what it actually is.

But that's not a Lakers account saying that kind of thing. Because that's just stupid.

Uh, Chicago up 124 121. Hey, I said, expect the Houston win.

And if Chicago wins, we can be pleasantly surprised.

LeBron's post game is currently taking place in the showers, not even lying.

That's different.

LeBron talking about his lack of shots said that's the role I'm playing for the ball club.

In order for us to win ball games, that's the role I'm playing. That's just how the game's going.

Okay. He had some operatives in tennis. I thought he was passing the ball very well. He had

a couple of passes that were like Magic Johnson style passes in this game.

JJ like the way the Lakers defended in the second half thinks they drew up a good play in

the final possession. But to buy us, oh, the inbound pass got tipped. I didn't even see that live.

I didn't see that. The inbound pass got tipped. That's what JJ says. I don't have to go back and

rewatch that obviously can screw up the timing of that possession. 127 124. Chicago's up right now.

Thundercats litter box. Wow. Said I love smart. But we should go for Ellis or George in the off

season. We need a point of attack defender that isn't his injury prone. Well,

George is at think different level than Ellis's. George I think is a legit starter. Ellis is

more of an off the bench guy. So I think those two things are not the same. Like I if you want

if you said you want to replace Marcus smart with Lou dork. Okay. If you want to say you want

to replace him with key analysis, I'm like, uh, did you really get a starter? So that's the issue

there. Um, but I marked the smartest. Great. And I don't think Marcus smart is going to pick up

the player option. I think he's been too good this season to do that. But man, that would be a big

benefit to the Lakers. If you would pick up that $5.4 million dollar player option, that would be

massive. Oh, it looks like Chicago is going to win. 129 124 Chicago. Wow.

Well, that helps keep pace. And frankly, I'll tell you what everybody. I am my hope is that it's

Houston that winds up falling to six because I'd prefer that match up for the Lakers. I think the

Lakers can beat Houston. They can beat Denver. They can beat Minnesota. I think the Lakers could be

beaten by Houston, Denver or Minnesota. But if I had to choose, I would prefer Houston.

If I had to choose between those three, I would prefer to take on Houston. So right now the

bulls are up 129 124. So I would like to see Houston fall all the way to six. And by the way,

Houston and Minnesota play two more times this season. Denver doesn't play anybody

the rest of the way. Essentially, they have all easy games the rest of the way.

Houston and Minnesota play twice. So I think from a Lakers perspective, knowing someone has to

win and someone has to lose those games, I think I'd prefer to see Minnesota go two and oh.

But again, that's just if I have to rank them, I would

while acknowledging Houston could beat the Lakers. Denver could beat the Lakers. Minnesota could

beat the Lakers. The Lakers could also win those. Denver has the tiebreaker over Houston. Denver

has the tiebreaker over Minnesota. So Denver has the tiebreaker over both of those teams. Minnesota

and Houston, their tiebreaker will be decided by those final two games. Right now the series is

1-0 in favor of Houston. So Minnesota has to win both very same situation as the Lakers were in.

They were down oh one going to Houston had to win both games. Minnesota, I don't know where the

games are being played. Minnesota has two games remaining against Houston. They have to win both

to take the tiebreaker.

If you told me three weeks ago, we would be nine and one, I'd be shocked, right?

This has been a great stretch for the, I mean, think about it. Think about this season. Think

about why. Think about why for the month of January, February, even post-trained deadline, there

was just this negativity, this malaise around this team. Everybody, it was down.

Everything just was sour and not good and the team was not good enough all of that, right?

They had no wins over quality teams going until what October? Maybe I think it was first

week in November. They beat San Antonio. Every win they had from there on was just a team that was

if they were above 500, they were just barely above 500. They didn't have quality wins.

Now, in the span of two weeks, you beat Denver, you beat Minnesota, you beat Houston twice,

you beat New York, you beat Miami on the second night of a back-to-back with heavy legs,

the team that flies up and down the court, you beat Orlando, you got quality wins over teams that

in Orlando and Miami, both in due or die must win situations in that Eastern Conference

plough phrase. You got wins over all those teams. They have turned things around in such a big way.

One loss on this road trip is not going to undo all of that. They have done some of it.

They have provided so much fun, so much entertainment for Lakers fans, so much hope for Lakers fans

that just did not exist. Despite the fact that they were a well above 500 team. Easily above 500,

they were a playoff, not play in team in the West.

And they just didn't have those uplifting wins. Now they do.

Not going to be too upset. Good job, Lakers, on this road trip to hell with the haters.

Again, it's been a really good stretch for Lakers.

And Chicago did it. Chicago beat Houston. So the Lakers,

oh, Emu, okay, I got it. Checked. Is that right? I'm going to check that one out.

So the Lakers do not lose any ground to the Houston Rockets tonight because the Rockets lost.

That helps. That helps.

The only thing I had to issue with is JJ didn't put the best defensive lineup in when it was

possession by possession with the timeouts. Come playoffs. JJ's got to be more ready down to the

wire. Yeah, I think you got to be more willing to lean in to defensive players to go in all defense.

Knowing if you've got a timeout, you're going to use it regardless of whether you get the stopper

knot. You might as well just lean in and go all defense for that possession. Now we have to

remember, though, too, individual defensive skill isn't always everything. A lot of defense is

communication because you need all five guys to be on a string. That is the other side of it.

As an individual defensive player, Jared Vanderbilt is very, very good. But could there be an

angle? And I'm not saying this is a reason why he should not make this or this was even a thought

process for JJ. It's just something to remember that communication on defense matters a ton.

And if you feel like one guy, a guy is a good defender, but he's not in sync with the other players

in that group. That's a factor you have to consider as well beyond just individual defensive talent.

Just something to think of. But yeah, I do think JJ could get more aggressive with his offense

defense substitutions, particularly with this team, where you still have a lot of players who are

offensive players or defensive players and not both. The Lakers are a prime team to have

some significant offensive defensive line changes late in games when they've got a timeout

and hand to use to put the other group on the floor later. So I think JJ could get more aggressive

with that. And we'll see if that's something they tries to do.

If you watch the game, what stood out was Reeves being a liability key moments throughout the game.

Sorry, played pretty well in general in this game. I'm sure there were some defensive moments that

were tough. And Jenkins did a good job and hit some tough shots. But I Austin hit big shots late

he was seven to 15 shooting 24 points. Five assists. At least one of the foul, one of the turnovers

he got fouled on. Same for LeBron LeBron had at least one or two of his turnovers, four turnovers

for LeBron. He got fouled and it was just a mistake by the official. Same for Austin.

I didn't think Austin had played a particularly poor game in this one.

I think if you are not happy with Austin, if you're looking for something that he did wrong,

that you'll probably see things. I think the same is true for every player. I think you'll find

things. If you find yourself against or whatever, I don't particularly care about any of that stuff.

I will go, I'll have to go back and rewatch and maybe I'll catch some things. There was,

I caught something, a couple of games ago, I went back and watched something and Austin just

completely blew it on a defensive play that I didn't catch live while we were watching the game.

And obviously the Lakers wound up winning. I can't even remember what the play was, but it was one

where he just got caught ball watching and got completely beat on a backdoor cut. Just was not,

I think actually it was a rocket's game and it was an almond Thompson cut. And he just got

completely burned that I didn't catch live while it happened. Like there are things that happened.

Deandre was better last game that I game credit for late down the stretch. We had some big

offensive rebounds that I didn't factor in enough on a rewatch. So maybe I'll catch some things

that I didn't notice on the first watch through on Austin. But watching the game, I didn't feel like

he had a poor game. I didn't think he played that that poor that we can look at Jenkins had 30,

but he also took some tough hit some tough shots took some tough shots. And I don't think it was

all Austin defending him on those possessions either. But yeah, I don't look at this game and

think, Oh, that was that was on Austin Reeves or something that he made some big shots for the

Lakers, made some big plays. And overall was pretty good. And I even thought that the shot that

you could have subbed in Vando for I thought Austin did a very good job contesting on that. He was

right on the shot. Now again, that's where maybe having a longer arm in there in Vando would have

helped. But I thought Austin played that as well as you could have the only difference could be if

you had somebody who was a little bigger. That's it. The guy pushed off. Oh, yeah, Jenkins. Did he

push off a hundred percent? But there's also what worse push offs than that every single game.

Like that was not one of the most egregious, but and I trust me, you're preaching to the choir.

I talk about push offs all the time and the off arm stuff that offensive players get away with.

Luke, I included it. Luke, it does it. Austin does it. If you are not pushing off right now in today's

NBA, you're at a disadvantage. You should be pushing off like crazy in today's league because the

left referees let you get away with it. So did Jenkins push off? Yes. But there have been way more

egregious push. Are they the Peyton Pritchard push off on Jared Vanderbilt way more egregious than

what Jenkins did? So did JJ not run a set play when Luca threw up an unnecessarily rushed contested shot.

The second to last Lakers possession off to go back and look and see what that actually came from.

I remember the shot. I don't recall what exactly how exactly they got to that. I thought they ran

screen role and Luca was able to get an edge, but it was in semi transition. So I don't remember if

Luca just got the matchup he wanted and then went to back his man down and then went or exactly how

that all played out. I'll have to go and look at it again.

JJ showed a lot of promise, but him treating Jake like Torian Prince is handicapping the team is

the lack of confidence is starting to affect his game overall. Vando should be getting his minutes.

Was there were there moments like there have been moments in recent games where JJ was not.

JJ has Loravia out there and Loravia is getting the ball and he clearly does not want to shoot.

I didn't think we saw that much tonight. Maybe I miss remembering if I can't recall plays where

Loravia really needed to take the shot and just didn't. He was one of two from three in this one,

but and I did notice I was keeping eye on the floor spacing. The floor spacing was a bit worse

with Vando on there. Vando gets completely ignored. Jake they're given plenty of room to now,

but it's another step, step and a half towards Loravia when he's the one in the corner compared to

Vando. Vando they complete. Vando they just pretend he doesn't exist. He's not even on the court.

So I don't know is he treating like what's the other option? I think the other thing you could do

in this game and you can make an argument for it would be to take Vando's minutes and if not

flip them with Jake just move the slider a little bit more. You could do that. You could do something

like that, but ultimately JJ played the lion share of the minutes to Loravia and I think it's

defensible. You could have gone 20 minutes Loravia, 20 minutes Vando or something along those lines.

But yeah, I don't think that Jake is getting minutes when he's not productive.

And then even the Torian Prince thing, is it really a great analogy? Torian Prince was good.

He was just misused. He was misused. Torian Prince was very good when he was coming off the bench.

When you asked him to slide up a level and be a starter, it was too much.

And Loravia isn't asked to be a starter. Smart as the starter. Loravia is being asked to be

an off the bench player. Tonight, it was Loravia, Vando, or Cunard starting.

And you could make an argument for any of the three. And ultimately, JJ went with Jake, but

him was like trying to make Torian a starter being a thing and it didn't point up working out.

By the way, Cam Thomas is a is not playoff eligible.

So just you know, Cam Thomas just got waived. It's after March 1st. If the Lakers were to

sign him, he cannot play in the playoffs. And keep in mind, Cam Thomas just got waived by the

box for a reason. That's probably not a good sign. That's probably not a great sign for Cam Thomas.

So yeah, I can't see the Lakers actually signing him.

Yeah, he got waived again. He got waived again.

Yeah, look, saying Jake Loravia is the new Gabe Vincent is going way too far.

Jake is a much better defensive player than Gabe was this season.

He's not a Jake is an okay role player when you're playing him 12 minutes a night. And there

are some games, especially while you're shooting poorly, when he shoots well, there's games where

he can be more than that. But he's still a role player coming in off the bench. He can do some

things that help you on the hustle side of things. That's what he does. Right now he's in a

funk shooting the ball, but that was not a problem tonight. He was three or four shooting and one

and two from three. You don't know if that's a good point. The box waived and stretched Dame

tube. But that doesn't mean Dame isn't good. Just saying, well, the box waived and stretched Dame

so they could sign Miles Turner so they could continue to pray that Yannis will stay with them.

And how has that worked out for the Bucks? Not great. Not great.

So it's obviously a very different situation. We're comparing apples to oranges there.

But the Bucks had incentive. They were thinking, hey, we're getting our next center. We're losing

Brook Lopez. We're going to get our next center with Miles Turner. We're going to get a guy

that's going to really help this team. We're going to be a playoff team. Yannis isn't going to

want to leave if we do this. You've got Cam Thomas on a team that isn't making the playoffs

anyway. They're done. And it's been so bad that you're waving him right now knowing that he can't

sign with another team and play in the playoffs. That's fishy as hell. That that that tells you that

either he's really that bad on the court or there's some other stuff off the court.

Personality wise is not working out. If you're going to wave a guy now knowing that he can't play

in the playoffs if you wave him right now. It's not like he can go sign with another team and then

be added to a playoff squad and you're doing a favor to a better end or something. No,

can't do that. Cam Thomas getting waived right now speaks volumes. That says something.

Dame Lillard getting waived is because he didn't have an Achilles and they had a push factor

or a pull factor of Miles Turner. You're going to sign Miles Turner. They thought at the time

that was going to be a good move. Cam Thomas, this doesn't like open up a bunch of spending powers.

Doesn't mean the bucks are going to go add some great player. This is Cam Thomas is getting

way because obviously it was not working. So two totally different situations.

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gambling problem called 1-800-GAMBLER. And I hope Cam Thomas gets it. You know, I

the man can score. He's the talented score, but he's got to do it efficiently. He's got to show

that he can defend and and and fit in with the team.

Officiating so inconsistent. It is. It's very inconsistent.

Just watched didn't see it in real time. Maxi tips the pass. The ball was going right to Luca

and Maxi's screen on Thompson was there. Can't wait for you to see it. One loss won't kill us.

Go LA Lakers. Let me see if it's up on NBA.com. I can take a look and see what happened there.

Let's see. What did happen?

Turn off fade away. Oh, the clip starts after the ball's already been inbounded.

That don't happen in front of me. All right. I'll take a look at it later once the whole things

there. No, I'm not talking about Cam Reddish. Not talking about Cam Reddish. It was Cam Thomas.

My son, Pao's favorite player is Austin. He wanted you all to know. Oh, well,

thanks for letting us know. Appreciate it. Appreciate it.

It was tipped by Tobias Harris. Yeah, I was going to say I thought I didn't think it got tipped by Maxi, but

so I think Cam will be out of the league. Could be. We'll see. I think somebody would say he's

not getting the money that he was hoping to get this summer. He's not getting that.

But he could get, he could get, you know, a minimum somewhere.

Cam really lost 30 million. 100% of the athletic was on slew of today. He said he's a close friend

of game, but the loop trade was great. Yeah. I mean, look, the Luke Kinar didn't have a great game

today. One of five from three. The one three hit was from the same spot that he hit the game.

Winter the other night. Didn't have a great game shooting the ball in this one. Add it a couple of

times again, where Kinar had the three and that didn't take it. Those are frustrating, but that's also

what he's known for. That's been a thing with him for his career. But yeah, the loop Kinar trade's been

great. Overall, it's been a good find for the Lakers. A good addition to the team. And now you got

it. He's another guy that, all right, you got to bring him back next year. Got to bring him back.

He's a free agent. Got to bring him back. Still wondering why JJ didn't challenge the

the gold tent. Yeah, I was I was very surprised that we didn't see. JJ has been pretty aggressive

using his challenges. Didn't seem to do that.

All right, let's take a quick peek at the standings now that the Houston loss is in.

And this is the way it looks. Lakers three Denver four. The Lakers two games up on Denver in

the lost column and really it's three. The wolves five. Lakers are two games up on the wolves in

the lost column, but really it's three because of the tie breaker and Houston six and the Lakers

again, two games up on Houston in the lost column, but really it's three because of the tie breaker.

Um, I think there's a strong likelihood that it's either finishes like this or Minnesota and

Houston could flip and it will likely come down to what happens, um, what happens in the two head

head games remaining between Houston and Minnesota. So the reason for that is part because Denver has

such an easy schedule remaining. They just they just do not play anybody.

Um, we look, they I think they've won they may have won gaming at San Antonio,

but they're final two games. Maybe they already burned it. No, they do have they've won real

gaming at San Antonio left. Then they have a game against San Antonio. Their last two teams are

San Antonio and OKC. And I don't think OKC is being caught by San Antonio to three game gap and

OKC is not losing. So you're not closing that gap. So Denver really doesn't play anybody with

the exception of one real game against San Antonio left and a game against the sons. That's it.

That last there's the right now in the tankathon, um, strength of schedule. They have two games

against San Antonio, one game against OKC, but two of those games are fake. The game against OKC

is the last game of the season, I believe. And the game before that is San Antonio San Antonio and

OKC will probably be resting all their guys for those games. So it's really one gaming. It's the

spurs and one gaming. It's the sons. Those are their most difficult games remaining. And that's

it. Otherwise, it's the jazz. It's the maps, the gris, the warriors and the blazers. Now they

lost a game to the gris the other day. Last week, anything can happen. But Denver will be the

heavy favorites in all of their remaining games, except for one. And that'll be that game against

San Antonio. I think they'll be the favorite in their game against the sons. Looking at the

Lakers, the Lakers, meanwhile, have the 27th most difficult remaining schedule. But remember,

one of their their easy games is against the jazz. That's the last game of the season. Hopefully

that game doesn't count for anything. But also one of their more difficult remaining games is

against the sons who are hopefully you don't have to play that game really. That's the second

last game of the season. But two games, it's OKC or tough. But then the rest of the way you've got

Indy, Washington, Brooklyn, Utah is the final game. Dallas and Golden State. So if you have to

of the Lakers remaining 10 games, there's six here that are I mean, the Lakers will go

in as strong favorites in all of those matchups. Now, maybe Steph comes back for Golden State

and that changes what that matchup looks like. But yeah, I think the Lakers are in good shape

in terms of the standings. I think they're in good shape. And if I had a guess, I think it will

probably finish the way that it is right now. Now, if Houston beats Minnesota a couple of times,

that probably flips that. I don't think Denver is going to lose much though. So the Lakers have to

be careful because if Denver keeps winning and they and they just win out, which they might,

they don't have much quality opponents in front of them. If Denver doesn't slip up at all,

suddenly the Lakers have to have something to play for in probably the last two games. And that's

you know, maybe maybe the Lakers go one and one against OKC. I don't just want to assume both

those are losses, but also don't want to assume every game is a win. You can always slip up in any

game. But ideally, you'd like to see the Lakers, you know, you'd like to see the Lakers solidify

their standing with two games remaining. But I think this will probably wind up being

the way it finishes. Denver could push the Lakers, but remember, it's a two game lead for the Lakers,

but it's really three because they have a tie break over Denver.

So again, I think most likely Lakers take the three seed, but tonight's loss didn't help with that.

But if you win, so the Lakers have coming up, if you win, get a win over OKC,

OK, that kind of erases this game, right? You're expected to or get a win against Cleveland,

like that's going to be a tough game. But if you beat Cleveland on the 31st, it's second

night of the back to back. So that's kind of tough. But at least it's a home back to back.

Get a win over Cleveland. Like right now, the loosable games on the Lakers schedule remaining.

Cleveland, OKC, OKC. Other than that, they should win. Now should Dallas plays tough in Dallas.

Who knows? They they go for wins, even though they're essentially a tanking team. Phoenix will

probably have some maybe have something to play for on the 10th, second to last game.

So you never know, nothing's for certain. But the key for the Lakers will be

at least getting a win or two, ideally two, in the three games against Cleveland, OKC, OKC.

Sorry, man, there is no link in here. I haven't I haven't been able to see a link.

Perfect drawout play in pass. Harris wasn't there. Maxi hits it. OK.

I will I will find it.

We win out and beat OKC. Hey, I love it. I hope the Lakers do.

I hope the Lakers win out and they beat OKC. That'd be fantastic.

I don't get why they passed the ball to Luka when everybody knows Luka, we get double team.

It's not like we had 20 plus seconds left. Yeah, I mean, they used it. LeBron, I don't know if the play was to make LeBron a decoy, or if the play was to hope LeBron actually sprung free. Last game against Orlando, but LeBron essentially became a

decoy in that play and that opened up canard. That's why it canard was open because it was LeBron, right? So could you have run Luka in a situation that would have

potentially made him a decoy because that play was designed completely to get the ball to Luka.

Is he going to get doubled? Yes, but it's also Luka. And so you just you're going to live with Luka taking a big shot.

Unfortunately, it didn't go their way.

But you know, the the play was, I thought well executed in terms of it. They got the past there.

Let me see if I can find that play. So I know a lot of people are talking about it.

Oh, here it is.

OK, so it does get tipped initially. Who was it by?

Did it get tipped on the past by Harris on the initial pass?

Oh, yeah, he did. I think Paris did get a hand to it. That's why Maxi hit it.

Maxi does hit it, but Harris got a small tip onto the ball on LeBron's pass.

As LeBron passed it, Harris's hand gets a little piece of it.

Here, I'll just risk it.

So here's this.

So here's the play, right?

Here's the play.

LeBron is going to try your set and a screen here for Luka.

Luka's first screening for Austin, then Maxi's going to set up here.

And you're either getting, ideally, you're either getting Austin rolling to the rim or roll into the corner.

You've got a screen here by canard. So Austin's going to roll to the corner and potentially get a corner three here.

And then Luca is rolling over the top.

And LeBron, you can see, he's really not looking for Austin in the corner here.

He's just looking for Luca.

And as LeBron is releasing the ball to buy a series to see he's jumping, he's got his hand right in front of the pass.

He gets just a little bit of a touch.

Just a little bit.

That's why the pass goes here.

If Maxi doesn't touch that, if Maxi doesn't touch that, it's just going to bounce and hit the ground.

Like that's the reason why he touched the pass was supposed to go over the top.

Maxi's not supposed to be anywhere close to that.

It's supposed to go over the top.

But Tobias Harris got a little piece of it.

And that was a nice play by him.

And that's what makes this play get delayed.

Otherwise, Luca is open here.

That pass gets through. It doesn't get tipped by Harris.

And Luca's making a catch right now.

With a chance to shoot the three.

So the play really worked in terms of getting an open look for Luca.

Just got tipped by Tobias Harris.

And now from here, Luca has to go get it.

Now you're just freelancing.

Now it's improvised.

Make something up on the fly.

Maxi screens.

And you wind up with Luca one on one to rent.

He had Austin for a moment.

Right here.

But again, you did have the clothes out there.

I think that was dramatic green.

Luca pump fake.

I think he was hoping to rent with jump on the pump fake.

To rent it a good job.

Staying down.

And Luca missed the turn around.

So if not for the tip here by Harris, just getting a little piece of it.

Just enough to deaden that pass by LeBron.

Luca gets a white open look.

But also look at watch Maxi when he's going for the ball.

Look at the rent.

That's a foul under end right there.

He's got a fistful of Jersey.

Now does it help the Lakers if they get a whistle and.

You know, they go to the free throw line.

Probably not, but.

That's the way that play broke down.

Harris got a little piece of that.

Could have passed into Reeves.

Yeah, he could have he could have passed into Reeves.

But also look.

Also look.

And he passed to Reeves.

Let's go here.

Right.

Austin relocates.

He's open right here.

He does have a man coming across.

He did have Austin right here and he thrown the pass.

But.

Look at think about it from Lucas vision right now.

Does Lucas see Austin.

Or is Maxi setting the screen here in between.

Austin and Luca.

I he may not actually be able to see Austin in this moment.

Because you've got two men between him and Austin there.

That's all now was Austin open.

Yes.

Does Luke have great court vision.

Good sense of where everybody is.

Yes.

And we can argue Luca should have made that pass there.

I'm just saying.

When you're looking at this.

There is the potential that his vision was obscured here.

And this isn't just oh my gosh.

Lucas such a ball home.

You know, he may not know.

Whether or not Austin is there.

Okay.

And again.

See them.

Should he make the pass.

Potentially just saying looking at this.

He should see Austin here.

Right here.

He should have vision on Austin cut across.

And perhaps that was the past there.

And you can say, well, he should have passed that.

And maybe you have the closeout right there.

But.

You know, Luca ultimately wound up taking the shot.

But.

Hindsight 2020.

Yes.

You should have passed Austin.

And in really with.

It would have been a gamble.

But right here.

One more pump fake.

Would have gotten three free throws.

But again, that's all hindsight.

That's all hindsight.

I'm not going to.

I'm not going to fault Luca for taking a shot.

A big, big moment shot.

Ideally, yeah, the pass was probably there, but.

I get it.

It didn't work out well.

Didn't work out well.

And the play didn't go off as it was designed to because of a good defensive play.

It happens.

It happens.

I don't think though this is like time to be owned.

Let's be mad at Luca.

Luca has been awesome.

It's not like Luca's been terrible for weeks.

And in a cottage.

He's just putting in no effort.

And not a look at a headfirst James worthy style dive to keep a ball in play.

He had a bad shooting night.

It happens.

It happens.

He's even played good defensively played well on the defensive side of the ball.

It's going to happen.

With the reps of call to the you never know.

Never know.

Somebody said, how can you show this without getting copyrighted?

That's probably why I'm going to have to cut it out.

We'll see.

All right.

Do breakdowns more often I would but they often get they often get flagged.

So I do it when I can but.

I do like doing them.

And be more fun.

Yeah.

Let's do the master lock of the night.

All right.

Most annoying thing from this game.

Let's do it.

Master lock of the night.

The master lock of the night.

Yeah.

This was an easy one.

Referees.

Yes.

They were rubbish.

Just awful.

Awful officiating.

Easy, easy pick there.

Yeah.

Still in Brooks always gets master lock, but the reps.

Definitely got a master lock the referees in this one.

Master lock haters.

Look, there's a nine game win streak.

They're playing great basketball provided some amazing unforgettable moments.

Gotta start a new streak.

Let's see if they can do it.

All right, everybody.

Appreciate all of you for joining.

Thank you so much for hanging out.

Unfortunate.

This is the first time in a while.

That our post game has been on a loss.

Weird feeling.

And but hopefully next time we'll be celebrating another Lakers win.

Thank you again, everybody.

Please make sure you hit that subscribe button.

Till next time.

See you.

And stay safe.