Let's talk about the Lakers.
The best story in the NBA.
9 wins in a row as we record this on Monday afternoon before they go into Detroit to play the Pistons.
That is the 2nd longest streak in the NBA, which is second only to Oklahoma City, which is a pretty good story right now, uh, themselves, um.
This has been a pretty dramatic turnaround for the Lakers and a pretty impressive one.
I want to run through some of the numbers that I have for LA, uh, because I pulled these last 9 games.
They've gone from being 10th in, in offensive efficiency.
Over the 1st 62 games to 2 over the last 9.
So they have completely blown up, uh, offensively.
The defensive rating, which I think is more important, 22nd in the league over the 1st 62, 10th.
So they have a top 10 offense and a top 10 defense over the last nine games.
Their net rating, +0.2 or +0.0.2 to +8.6 over these last nine games.
So they have been as a team collectively, very, very good.
And they played some good teams during that stretch, which we'll get to.
Uh, Luka Dacic.
Out of his mind.
Playing out of his mind, he's averaged 40 points a game per game over these last 9 games, best in the NBA.
Looks like a guy you wouldn't want to trade for one first round draft pick.
No, uh, that 60 point game he had against Miami.
That was the best Offensive game I've seen all season.
And due respect to Bam Adebayo, and I think Kawhi had a couple of great games.
Um, 60 points when you're coming off a back to back, when your team gets into Miami at like 5 o'clock in the morning and you're in a competitive game.
Like that Miami game, I watched it.
Like, they needed those 60 points.
I think they won by 8.
It was like 134, 126, something like that.
Uh, they needed every point from Lukadoncic and he gave it to him.
That was the best game I've seen offensively.
Somebody play all season long.
The other numbers are great.
He's shooting 49% from the floor during the stretch, 40% from 3 during the stretch, so he's ridiculously efficient.
8.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists.
I don't think he's gonna finish in the top two in MVP.
I, I think it's Shay and Wemby right now kind of clashing at the top and, I know Lakers fans get on me about that.
I, I, somebody sent me a whole Reddit post about something I said or wrote about that, but he is playing at a best in the world level right now.
There's other things I want to unpack on this, but let's just keep it on Luca for a moment, um.
What do you, what are you seeing out of him during this 9-game winning streak?
I think Luca is very, um, influenced by his environment, right?
He's gonna be a great offensive player no matter what.
He's just too skilled.
His footwork is incredible.
I think people, people don't consider that as much when they're talking about him, but watch his feet when he plays.
His deceleration.
I heard someone talking about the numbers this week, and, and it certainly passes the eye test that he can decelerate as well as anyone in the league, and that's, does he ever accelerate?
Like he just always plays at his own speed.
This Luca, this is why Cade Cunningham often gets compared to him because they both play at this methodical pace that they force you to adjust to.
Yes, I think it was the, uh, Tim McMahon, the Luca expert who was talking about deceleration, and, and that's frankly something I hadn't thought about before, but you just need to shake the guy, right?
Doesn't matter which version of it it is, um, but I do think that despite his offensive talent always being there, how much he plays defense, how much he costs his team by.
Arguing with refs, how much he's playing a team game that's good for everyone instead of just him scoring points depends on the environment around him and how he's feeling, and some guys don't care.
They're just a bucket no matter what.
But Luca is more emotional.
We, we, we see it all the time.
He's a more emotional guy.
He loves trash talking to crowds, so if things are going well , he gets to do that.
He, you know, he and Austin have formed this like buddy comedy basically through the course of the season.
Now LeBron's part of it instead of being on.
The outside of it, which is I think significant Luca doesn't have to worry anymore about stepping on LeBron's toes.
I, I don't think we can discount Luca learned to play basketball watching LeBron James videos.
He said it over and over again.
That's the guy I watched.
That's why you see a lot of similarities in his game.
So no matter how much you think you're the man, if the guy that you watched growing up to play basketball is on your team.
You're going to be a little bit like, well, I don't want to kill this guy.
I don't, I don't want to be the ruin to the end of his career.
You don't have to worry about that anymore because LeBron is like decidedly OK with what he's doing.
So I, I just think it's, it's good for the league when Luke is doing well.
He's so fun to watch, and the fact that he is emotional and demonstrative makes him more fun to watch.
And look, apparently you can't give him a 16th tech because it's just NBA did him a huge solid.
Things just keep getting rescinded.
He look.
We don't have to get too deep in the weeds, but I checked in with the NBA on this one, and, uh , I think he did enough to deserve it.
I think, I, I don't know what Gogo Batazzi said to him.
But I think what he said to him was said back.
I think that's, that's Lucas said something first, which kicked this whole thing off.
So he, the NBA did him a solid on that one, letting him play, maybe not wanting to take him out of a, you know, it was supposed to be a high profile game against Detroit, maybe less so with, uh, Kate out of the mix.
I was gonna say I don't know.
I mean, apparently he didn't know.
Luca didn't know that he spoke Serbian.
I don't know because he played in Georgia I guess is is, but he played in Serbia, which, so Lucas said something again.
I, I was not on the court, so this is just according to secondhand accounts, um, he, according to secondhand accounts, Lucas said something to him very inappropriate in Serbian and that.
Goga maybe didn't replied replied in Serbian and didn't realize that that was, yeah, that that was something that would understand.
Yeah, uh, the NBA, he, he deserved that.
He deserved that tech.
He deserved that tech, uh, but he's, you know, you want to keep him out there on the floor for these types of games.
He, he's been outstanding.
LeBron James also outstanding, um, numbers roughly the same.
He's down scoring-wise over the last 9 games, but he is 10 points better in field goal percentage the last 9 games.
He is shooting 60% from the floor over these last 9 games.
Scoring numbers a little bit down, like I said, assist numbers are up though, steals are up, which means he's playing better defense for this team.
Uh, He, this is what they need from him.
And I saw some quotes from LeBron after the last game where he's clearly taken notice of how some people, I think I count myself among them, who have said that the Lakers are better without him.
Um, that has been statistically true though, up until right around the All-Star break.
Uh, the numbers don't lie.
Him, Austin Reeves, uh, Luka Dacic, they, Do not offensively perform well and defensively, the numbers have created as well.
But this adjustment that LeBron James has made, where he has embraced his inner 3rd option, where he has embraced his inner screen setter, his inner roller.
Like this is a big reason why the Lakers' offense is humming right now.
Number 2 in the NBA during this 9-game stretch, they're better.
When he plays like this, JJ Reddick said it a couple of, uh, few games ago, uh, that this is how we need to play like with Lucas the 1, Austin Reeves as a de facto 2, and LeBron as that superior third option.
I, I give him a ton of credit for sliding into this role and doing it as well as he's been doing it.
And I give a lot of credit to both sides of whatever conversation the two of them had, JJ Reddick and LeBron, because they both agree that was kind of the turning point.
And you have to remember when these two did the podcast together, not only did they have a great relationship, and that enables JJ to be able to say things to him, maybe a Darvinham couldn't, but they were very technical.
It all comes down to the podcast and, well, no, but I mean it's the type of thing that they were doing.
The conversations they were having were extremely technical, and LeBron really visibly reveled in having someone he could have those conversations with.
JJ, as we know, is.
Not the greatest player of all time, but his IQ and basketball IQ and his love of analytics and video and let me show you this, etc.
is super, super high.
So I think maybe only those two guys could have had that conversation with each other or only JJ could have had that conversation with LeBron.
And again, I wasn't in the room, but I have, I've known both of them for an extremely long time and I have to think that the way it was phrased in couches, let's look, let's get so.
Granular.
Let's look at the film.
Let's look at the numbers and break them down more granularly, and I think that has a real appeal to LeBron.
There's a big difference between being like, let me show you something, and hey LeBron, I, I think you're getting past it.
It's time to be number 3, and, and I just, I think that that conversation was important.
And the other thing I've been thinking about lately is if you know I covered those Miami Heat teams when he and Dwayne were there and, and Chris, and you know .
One, when they were really at their height, when they were really kicking and they were on what, like a 17 game win streak and all of that stuff, one of LeBron's things is he would try to do like the wins were too easy for him, and he was like trying to do his own little game within a game of how efficient can I be.
What, what are the efficiency numbers I can have?
It's not just the scoring, it's not just the wins.
I want to get my efficiency numbers up, and there were games that they were like crazy, and he was absolutely doing it on purpose.
I would not be surprised at all if he has translated this into a game in his head of how can I, how can I blow everyone away by doing this, the best that has ever been done.
And again makes that point then that he fits in here, which no matter what he does next year.
If he will, if he leaves this team by retirement or by going somewhere else, he will not be leaving it the way he would have been just a month ago of, yeah man, team's better off without LeBron, and I think that's very important to him.
Yeah, um, so the question then becomes.
Is this team a true title contender?
And to me, the answer to that question comes down to DeAndre Ayden.
DeAndre Ayden is going to make or break this team this year.
I really believe that.
I think they can beat, they can outscore anybody with Luca LeBron and Austin Reeves, but their ability to be a top 10 level defensive team.
Depends a lot on DeAndre Ayton.
He has done that over the last few weeks.
He's a big reason why this team, maybe the reason why this team has jumped up 12 spots in defense officially.
Marcus Smart there as well.
He's been looking a lot more like the Marcus Smart from Boston.
Rui Hashimura has been pretty good, but DeAndre Ayton is that anchor in the middle.
And over the last 3 weeks or so, he has clearly embraced that role that he was so resistant to early in the season, that quote, Clint Capela type role that the Lakers wanted for him.
I, I don't think it's hyperbolic.
To say that he is the most important role player in these playoffs, no doubt about it, because you look at like, what do you put, what do you put him up against in Aaron Gordon's importance, or he's not a role player anymore.
I mean, Aaron Gordon's still, he's all-star caliber, but he's, he's on that team.
He's a role player.
The two stars are Murray and Jokic, and he's the role player.
But I look at the matchups that the Lakers are probably going to have to go through, and, and you look at this.
Start right in the first round.
If it started today.
Minnesota, Gobert, Randall, Naz Reed, you need DeAndre Ayton.
Second round, San Antonio, that Wemby guy.
Conference finals, Oklahoma City, Chet, Hartenstein.
You can't win unless DeAndre Ayton is playing at this level.
You, you don't have anybody behind him that's reliable.
You have to play small and that's not gonna work against San Antonio or Oklahoma City.
It may not even work against Minnesota.
Like, he is so vital to what this team is going to do.
He plays like this, the thing that he has done for the last year, if he can bottle that, take it through the rest of the regular season, take it to the playoffs, this team can win a championship.
I believe that they have found their groove offensively enough.
JJ Reddick has been outstanding during this stretch.
His out of timeout plays are brilliant.
He had another one.
Yeah.
That's what I'm saying.
Like in Orlando.
I mean, yeah, JJ, I guess, uh, Greg Saint Jean had something to do with that too.
We need to help him draw that up, um.
He, he's been great.
They've got like, If you're looking at the pie, they've got like 80% of it, and DeAnd Drayton is a critically important 20%.
If he plays like this in the postseason, they're going to have a shot to win.
Luca cooks Minnesota.
Luca has cooked Oklahoma City before.
San Antonio is really good, but they're really young too.
Like I'll, I'll take my chance with Luka Doncic against like Dylan Harper, Steph Cassel, and, and that backcourt right now.
He can't do it without the kind of production that he was getting from the bigs in Dallas, the Derrick Lively's, the Daniel Gaffords.
He needs that type of output from DeAndre.
Do you think he's capable of that?
Do you agree with that assessment that Aman Ayton is as important as I'm making him out to be?
Yeah, I think, look, D'Andre's entire career has been marked by him feeling marginalized to how he sees himself, right?
And I was the number one overall pick.
Why are they treating me this way in Phoenix?
You know, I'm not.
In Portland it's not working for this reason, etc .
I think again the way the atmosphere is on that team right now is really conducive to him , and he had a very important conversation.
Did you hear him explain this about his turnaround with his own?
Yes, he had a very important conversation with himself.
He's got some great quotes and the mirrors.
He's, I, I'm very fond of him, and, um, he's just funny.
Can I read the quote just so people get context for its for he, he said this what, a couple of games ago, uh, he said, Yo, talking to himself.
You're not that guy.
You don't need to be on this team doing that at all.
This team, you came here to be the effort guy.
I mean, look, that's an important conversation.
That mirror, if they win a title, that mirror should be in the championship parade.
Mirror should be part of the parade, right?
Yeah, it's great.
No, I mean, and by the way, you know who you can take credit for some of that actual conversations, um, with him and some of this turnaround and attitude is Marcus Smart, your guy.
Like he not only is he contributing physically out on the floor the way he always does and the Defense and as you say, the level is up and he feels healthy and all of those things, but his leadership has been fantastic on this team and I think it has long been fantastic, but to see him getting to employ that here, I think he has been a huge, uh, amplifier for DeAndreyton showing him how much reward you can get out of playing that kind of defense and sort of being that effort guy and, and it's just again every single cylinder is clicking for the Lakers right now and you have to give them the respect that they have shown.
And it's just gonna be, I mean, one of my questions for you is we've seen teams that rely on zone and they don't rely only on zone, but they have thrown zone in quite a bit on this run.
It doesn't tend to work in the playoffs because teams that only see it once in a while and headed back to back the night before didn't have time to have a real practice.
They just haven't seen it in a while.
And even though these are all basketball players who have played zone in their life against zone, but it, it's more successful in the regular season than we've seen it in the playoffs.
Do you think they'll completely shift out of it in the playoffs they can like just because they don't have a lot of plus defenders out there.
If you're gonna play LeBron, Luca, Reeves for heavy minutes, those are 3.
At best average defenders, um, smart's above average, certainly.
Hashiura kind of right about on average, but athletic, um.
Yeah, I, I think they still have to include it.
Um, I agree with you.
You teams will get wise to it in a 7-game series.
They'll figure it out better than they're doing in the regular season, but I don't think they have any choice.
I don't think they, they can't go man every possession, every playoff game.
They're just not good enough defensively.
To me, that's, that's one of the X factors too.
In addition to DeAndre Ayton, you can't tell right now how much they're gonna use it in the playoffs and how impactful that will be, but that is something that we have seen over and over again, the same way.
Hey, we don't know about the Spurs because we've seen you need to do it first to win it.