Stephen A. thinks the Lakers are an ABSOLUTE MESS! 😬 | First Take

Stephen A. thinks the Lakers are an ABSOLUTE MESS! 😬 | First Take

Bigger deal the Lakers are below 500 or that the Clippers are nine games above I’m going to say the lak is being below 500 um the reality is is that I expected the Clippers to be good I didn’t expect them when they were on that five-game slide once Harden had first arrived uh

They seemed to be snowballing it didn’t seem uh to be what our expectations were because with Harden with kawhai lonard with Paul George on the floor Russell Westbrook being selfless selfless willingly coming off the bench it just says a lot about his character he’s been maligned over the years Russell

Westbrook is an Energizer Bunny and he comes off the bench and he provides what he provides showing himself to be the antithesis of what people have said about him over the years we should be very very proud of what he’s done for that Clippers franchise it’s very

Underrated in the case of the Los Angeles Lakers they are an absolute mess and as far as I’m concerned they’ve got a roster rif with individuals who have betrayed LeBron James they have betrayed Anthony Davis they have betrayed jeie bus and Rob pinka and as far as I’m

Concerned as I said on NBA countown last night Wendy you know what and and and and I know that I joke around about stuff like this because it’s Miami and a South Beach and it’s Southern California it’s tinel town it’s la la but I’m going

To be very serious here and I hope that people understand and treat this with the seriousness that it deserves there are a there are very few places where everybody wouldn’t mind being in the NBA or in professional sports you know what if I’m if I’m Rob pinka if I’m darham if

I’m assistant coach Phil handy if I’m if if if I’m if I’m Kurt Rambis Linda Rambis jeie but pick a name I grab the vast majority of the players meaning everyone but Anthony Davis and LeBron James and I drive them around La how you like it do you feel this weather do you

See this sunshine do you you want to stay here you you want to continue to stay here here well guess what you have to perform in order to do it and the reason why I emphasize that uh uh tremendously so is because when you have LeBron James didn’t have a great game

Last night we understand that but for the most part this brother has been fantastic Anthony Davis has played like an MVP candidate um he’s a defensive player of the year candidate he’s been doing his job all you have to do is your damn job and the Lakers have an

Abundance of coach of players Wendy that ain’t doing a damn thing thing they lucky to be in uniform they are lucky to be in uniform I’m telling you right now they will be put on notice they about to be up out of here in La somehow someway

I’d get rid of some of them you can’t even give away for a box of cookies it’s really that damn pathetic right now I’d say that’s the biggest story yeah well that’s interesting I agree with a lot of what you said there I would I could make the case the one of

The most important things that’s happened in the NBA so far this year is the surgence of kawh Leonard because that effect on the title race is enormous you know it was the Lakers who were the story of last spring when they made that unexpected run through the playoffs but

That could have been the Clippers they had it falling into place Kawai was awesome down the stretch of last season and then he got hurt in that first or second game of the playoffs I think they were GNA they were going to beat the Suns I think before Kawai got hurt then

He had offse then he had another offseason surgery and you have no idea he’s going to come back you have no idea and he actually started the season off Stephen A not looking great in the last 11 games that Kawai has played he missed he he he had a had a

Hip injury which I was worried about because every time you see Kawai go down he never has anything on his face and then next thing you know like it’s a major injury he has come back in the last 11 games he’s played which basically is where the Clippers have gone from middling to

Awesome the Clippers have won all 11 of them and you know the golden standard for offense in the NBA is shooting 50% from the field 40% from three and 90% from the line it’s like the Golden Triangle in this 11 game stretch Kawai is just missing 60

90 he is killing it and there’s a lot of things going well for the Clippers right now Paul George is having an all NBA season he’s healthy he looks great James Harden after looking very shaky coming over there has found his role you mentioned Russell Westbrook being cool

With coming off the bench and having his role reduced okay Vitz zubach has been really good as Center and the last couple times they’ve played against the Nuggets now I’m not going to say cuz joic owns this whole league and he’s owned zubach a lot of his career but the

Last couple times they’ve played Zu about just played well but it’s Kawai it’s Kawai that is that has got this league on notice now having said that right what you said about the Lakers is true we are 35 games into this season LeBron James and Anthony Davis have basically played almost everyone they’ve

Skipped a couple Anthony has played through a couple of you know you know nagging injuries where he might have sat out in the past LeBron’s playing through illness he was questionable with illness yesterday he only scored 12 points I don’t know how it was affecting him I

Know he must have been ill watching the team shoot anyway there’s they’re 17 and 18 Stephen A they’re below 500 when they’ve had basically a healthy star situation that is a problem that is an indication that this team isn’t there and I know that there’s been some injuries and that’s been a frustration

For Darin ham especially and I also know that the or that the team is frustrated because Darin has neglected to go to the lineup that they used in the as a starters in the run the playoffs last year which was LeBron ad Austin Reeves d’angel Russell and uh Jared Vanderbilt

He’s really not gone to that lineup very much and they you know he’s sort of just been searching but this is a team that can’t shoot and a team and like last night the uh the heat basically played they played their 19 different starting lineup and they just zoned and the

Lakers went 430 they got real structural problems and I don’t know how they’re going to fix them to be honest with you Wendy I’ll start with you so the Pacers four wins in five games versus the Bucks is this something or nothing it’s something Stephen A this is my 21st year covering the

NBA I don’t want to sound like mad dog talking about George mik and Dolph shaves I don’t want to be labeled an old I Wanna Be On The Cutting Edge but damn it when I was raised learning this game I learned that you had to play defense

If you were going to win that’s right you’re you know and I know that you know like last year Denver they were like in the middle of the pack defensively and they were an awesome offensive team and you could argue they they are The Cutting Edge of the new

Era but they were good in the playoffs on defense yeah it’s awesome for the Pacers that they’ve won four out of these five games I would love to see this become a real rivalry with a playoff matchup which is possible depending on how these two teams finish and yet yeah Milwaukee

Is really good they’re 24 and 10 Dame Lillard has been terrific he’s great in these late game situations Chris Middleton’s come back from offseason surgery and rounded into form and of course Giannis is having an MVP level season but I just have a hard time respecting Milwaukee’s chances to win

Again when you’ve got a bottom 10 defense when you can have a game where you can give up 47 points in a quarter which is what happened in the third quart last night and the reason the Pacers have have handled Milwaukee is because they play small and they play

Fast and Milwaukee can’t handle it they have a giant hole on their team they cannot defend they’ve made decisions on their perimeter that have just turned it into swiss cheese and Stephen A it’s not just about the Pacers it’s about the Bucks being both powerful and susceptible and they are as susceptible

Of a championship Contender defensively as you can have in the mod NBA couple of things that we need to say number one we know that Damen lill is a superstar we understand that and we know that he’s been exceptional for the most part but his defense has been questionable to be

Kind and when you’re the replacement to Drew Holliday okay the reality of the situation is is that one or two things got to happen you have to elevate your level of defensive prowess or you have to be so explosive so otherworldly offensively that it offset that’s what you’re lacking defensively that’s number

One number two you just talked about how Indiana goes small this is the NBA you know what other teams are going to do look at what Indiana’s doing and make sure they do it themselves because what you’re talking about the Indiana Paces eight different Paces average double digits scoring against Milwaukee in the

Five matchups the season that is a fact and so when you look at it from that perspective we go small you can’t stop us why because Brook Lopez is out he can’t be out there Yiannis an the Cooper and stuff like that he’s gonna be out

There but in the end can you guard the smaller dudes no they can’t halberton is having a field day with them we all know this okay they busting their living you know what and I’m telling you this right now I’m not wishing for this we all know

Where I stand in terms of black coaches having opportunities and getting opportunities I don’t think there’s anybody that has spoke out about that more than me having said that fair is fair Adrien Griffin is gonna get himself fired I don’t care that they’re 23 and six against everybody else outside of

Their one and four record against the Indiana Pacers you are the successor to Mike buen hoser when have we complained about a Mike buen hoser defense think about that and so when you look at it from that perspective and you know the ingredients to winning has already been

Displayed because you’re just a few years removed from capturing a championship nobody is going to go for this level of poorest defense that we’ve been seeing from the Milwaukee Bucks we said Boston Milwaukee I watched the Miami Heat last last night Miami could beat Milwaukee again and oh by the way

Philly could beat Milwaukee Milwaukee might not even be a top four te when all is said and done if they keep this nonsense up they better get it together especially coach Adrien Griffin and they’ve got a lot of road games coming up especially out west so they’re going

To be challenged but the Bucks have a chance to turn it around but they got they they have played a generally softer schedule lot a lot of road games coming up for them

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Brian Windhorst and Molly Qerim talk about the state of the Los Angeles Lakers.
0:00 What’s the bigger deal?
6:00 Windhorst is sounding like Mad Dog?
7:30 Something or nothing for the Bucks?

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