Inside the NBA | Shaq reacts to LeBron, Lakers beat Thunder 129-120; T-wolves 110-98 win over Kings

Inside the NBA | Shaq reacts to LeBron, Lakers beat Thunder 129-120; T-wolves 110-98 win over Kings

Merry Christmas Eve Eve welcome on into game time Lauren Jabara here with Steve Smith Sean Powell guys it’s almost the holiday season how we feeling I love the Merry Christmas Eve Eve I’m excited I’m ready Sean I’m festive are you f work yes festive the closer you get the more

You more F he got all sophisticated with his I’m festive I’m F and then you’re festive too because you show up with your nice little turtleneck the gold maze Maze and blue turtleneck maybe you can I let that one I’ll let you have that one yeah it’s okay well we got a

Lot of games tonight 13 of them on the Slate but let’s start it out the Lakers in town taking on Shay Gil just Alexander in the Oklahoma City Thunder in the pairis of the plams OKC as I like to call it SGA oh oh he’s feeling

Festive oo a tough layup off the glassen then around the back and pull contested step back jumper over ad tied at 31 at this point second quarter cam reddish to Ru haimura Baseline jumper I like that shot I like ruy they need him there’s ad o inside tough layup off the window

Looking good at halftime Lakers have 71 to 59 third quarter LeBron James shows us why he’s still the king not for a guy who’s 53 years old man pull up three for him then there he is rebound goes Coast to Coast oh look at that pass Smitty he wow running

Faster than everybody on the floor LeBron James gets in the lane little floater he got a he he’s playing with on purpose he’s doing it all tonight loses the ball here chases it down are you kidding me we got to see that one again big block on D either side he was

Going to get it with the left either side Austin Reeves to LeBron look how he’s shooting his jump step back confid LeBron Braun finishes this game with a season High 40 points seven assists seven rebounds and they take it 129 to 120 now this is a guy that is turning 39

In a couple days we got to hear from him postgame all right Lebron 15 of your season High 40 come in the fourth quarter saw a couple of the threes uh and the bucket at The Rim Where Moes you have to get into to get a difficult Victory here in

OKC last time we came here we came here on a tough back to back um started the game out well but we just lost energy uh lost steam so you know us having a day in between our last game and us having uh I mean this was one of the must-win

One of the first must-win games of the season for us and we understand how well this team been playing but we was able to to play a really good game on the road to close the road trip up your birthday is coming up in a couple of

Days but this was the first time this year you scored more than your age so that’s pretty good no that’s pretty good I mean in a sense that uh you know helped us get this win versus a very good team team in the Western Conference that we really needed was desperate for

Win tonight so um know desperate times calls for desperate measures shift in the starting lineup you guys go bigger Vanderbilt comes in a lot of Link defensively LeBron what’s kind of just the team thinking behind that what did you see in the first rendition tonight

Um I think you just said it you know we add a lot of length um you know from the perimeter to to our wings all the way down to our Center obviously in ad we have the ability to uh guard you know multiple positions switch a lot of

Actions but uh more importantly we able to clean glass and I thought uh when they miss shots especially in that second and third quarter we cleaned glass they gave us an opportunity to score another end I mean it’s unbelievable that this guy is still producing the way that he

Is and almost 39 years old in a couple days Smitty like I know heading into this season he had 65,000 minutes on the court in regular season and postseason that’s not even including this year it’s unbelievable yeah it’s the it’s what he’s doing with those minutes as well

Lauren I mean he is coming out playing at a level that is a commitment wow still efficient 54 from the field still putting up 25 points seven rebounds seven assists those are Hall of Fame numbers and he’s 30 going to be 39 years old I know and he outscores his age in a

Game like tonight 40 points for LeBron James when he becomes the oldest player to score 40 points and make all his three-point shots just want to throw that in there for SM five out of six in this game but take a look at LeBron James shot chart yeah is unbelievable

And I like you said is we getting a chance to see him do it from outside inside mid-range but I I really look at it’s scary if this lineup can click without D’Angelo Russell starden I know they’re huge look at the size they have in that starting lineup it is absolutely

10 to 98 Mike Conley finishes the night with 12 points seven rebounds nine assists let’s hear from him Poston this game became tight in the fourth quarter you guys have been resilient All Season how did you get it done in the closing minutes oh man we

Just had to catch our breath a little bit I think they were uh they were pressing they were you know getting a lot of good looks playing faster and we we kind of slowed our game down and slowed our Pace down and um when that happens teams can come back so I think

Once we just caught our breath you know settled things down got to our offensive sets uh got some good looks and uh you know guys took us home so many weapons on this team Rudy goar 21 points 17 rebounds Edwards had 34 McDaniels had 20 tonight some key blocks how d dangerous

Is this Minnesota team and how has the collective effort played a role in the success this season oh man you know we have a lot of work you know we have a long way to go actually uh we got a team that has a lot of guys that can that can

Win this games and we can win in a bunch of different ways uh we haven’t really tapped into our potential yet and um that’s the that’s the beauty of it so we know we have uh you know a great journey ahead of us he’s got to got to love the

Process of it and uh keep giving the ball to this Bo right by and they’re having a lot of fun doing it 22 and six record on the season tied with the Boston Celtics for the best record in the NBA are the Minnesota Timberwolves shot the real deal I think they’re acing

All the tests so far I mean they’ve only lost one home game uh they go on the road and a tough place to win Smitty and Sacramento and they win there uh Anthony Edwards is a star they need car Anthony towns has had a good season I know he

Didn’t play tonight but he provides offense and the defense with this team in order to win a championship you’ve got to have defense and they’re playing defense you know Sean what I love is yes they have an unbelievable record sometimes who you play and I looked at

Set they have the best record with teams with 500 500 or better they’re like 15 and four that’s huge that’s when you know right now 22 and six on the year they get a couple days off for Christmas and then we’ll be back to regroup after that 13 games on the sleep tonight

Another team tied for the best record in the NBA with the Boston Celtics the Sacramento Kings did have a valiant effort to try to come back in this one 21 to8 run in that fourth quarter but they couldn’t close the deal shamp palum coming you because I asked Smitty the

Same thing are the Minnesota Timberwolves the real deal they’re tied with the Celtics right now for the best record of the I mean you we can sit here and wait to see if they’re going to falter but they haven’t faltered I mean this is a team that’s playing consistent

Defense uh Anthony Everts has stepped up his game Carl Anthony towns didn’t play tonight but he’s had a good season as well you saw Jaden McDaniels there near the end make a great defensive play really kept the Kings from coming back so they’re P they’re passing all the

Tests so far it’s a long season we haven’t gotten to Christmas so we put those disclaimers out there but so far so good for the Minnesota timber War I mean they don’t have any more games Before Christmas at this point so I guess we can re-evaluate come the 26 but

Smitty let’s go back to Sacramento because we saw Keegan Murray drain that three at the end the dude’s been on fire this season it’s been fun to watch it’s been fun to watch I mean shoots at a high clip uh he’s very quiet he’s methodical but uh you kind of understand

What he’s going to do he’s going to catch and shoot he’s going to post up he’s not going to waste dribbles uh I I love his approach to the game but the one thing I’m concerned about with the Sacramento Kings is their backup bigs I think the one thing is they going have

To find a rotation and maybe get some guys like javel McGee some more minutes um sabonis plays extremely well but then sometimes these struggles against guys he’s just not that big in girth so you saw today Rudy goar 21- 17 if Rudy you know outplays numbers wise yeah you know

Sabonis it’ll be hard for them to win it is crazy though I look at sabonis the stats I feel like he had a really quiet triple double really quiet triple double in this one 1710 and 10 Sean what impresses you most about him and that combination with him and dearen fox

Together well I mean look you know dearon Fox is a terrific player we we know that but when he’s getting that kind of help from his teammates I mean they’re a danger team but but I agree with Smitty I mean this is a team that’s

Really not big you know and if you look at some of the teams in the west have to go through Denver you know Minnesota’s right there uh some of these teams are offering size uh and and will the sacr kings make a trade at the deadline

Sometimes if you know if you’re a young team and you’re you know top three or four in a conference you think everything is great uh you get complacent you know the other teams might pass you by uh if if you feel that you want to wait another year before we

Do something well sometimes the time is now yeah sees the moment and if they can make a deal and bring in some more sides I think that would help them yeah it’ll be interesting to see hey Smitty question for you what color is your sweater beautiful gold yellow gold what

You call it gold you know you’re trying to talk about that Maze and blue hone Maze and blue yeah you put them together it becomes green yeah I like it I like it well that’s a good answer a really good answer good answer I can also segue

I can also seg segue this into something that you’ll like what’s that gold bars because guess what 13 games on the Slate tonight all 13 are done look how many gold gold boxes are on there they’re done we’re done we’re done guys we’re done we’re done we got highlights So okaye I’ve got to Grind I have got it I have got it [Applause] J you have defeated an enemy [Applause] fore [Applause] an En has been [Applause] deated hit your team has destroyed a tower timate an enemy has [Applause] defeated an enemy enemy for spee speee an enemy has been defeated now I [Applause] Okay

Inside the NBA | Shaq reacts to LeBron, Lakers beat Thunder 129-120; T-wolves 110-98 win over Kings