Lakers/Rockets Postgame Analysis, J.Worthy, Bron, AD, D-Lo, Coach Ham | Jan 29, 2024

Lakers/Rockets Postgame Analysis, J.Worthy, Bron, AD, D-Lo, Coach Ham | Jan 29, 2024

Lakers get blown out by the rockets in Houston they fell down by as many as 30 points the Rockets out rebounded the Lakers by 20 they had 14 offensive rebounds that turned into 19 Second Chance points 68 points in the paint 29 fast break points so big game you see

Where I’m going with this all the hustle categories in favor of the Houston Rockets everyone gater and uh you know I it was an they look tired that’s that’s the only thing I can can say it was an arring game they got beat in every category you you you have the

Numbers there and from the start that 42 points in the first quarter that was a that was a bad start and that gave Houston you know they’re tough kids Dylan Brooks those guys you know they that just gave them the energy they needed to go ahead and feel confident

That they could beat the lers that’s why you have to really do all you can to start that first quarter might not be a great quarter but you can’t give up 42 points and you and you can’t like you know uh just give up that many points I

You know they just look really tired big game against Golden State two overtimes traveling Houston probably no practice no excuse you still got to play the game like you said there there’s no excuses when you have an opportunity to to have some momentum on your side to win

Another game that’s very winnable you let this young Houston Team come out here and when you look at Second Chance points and fast break points offensive rebounds all those are effort that’s strictly effort and when you get beat in all three of those categories you in for long night uh this was another

Opportunity just like when they beat Dallas and OKC they got Brooklyn coming into town it was another opportunity to take another giant step forward and again they had that opportunity again tonight didn’t take advantage of it yeah you know there’s a fine line between fatigue and lack of effort and you sure

They were tired they had five guys who played over 40 minutes in that double OT win against Golden State the other night but there were a couple plays where you’re like what’s happening out there yeah there’s a possession close to the end of the second quarter a few Lakers

Ready to get the defensive rebound kind of looked at each other Jaylen green squirts right through there gets the ball and scores just a few too many plays like that in fact the first half Lakers had one offensive rebound Houston had nine you know excuse me is that

Fatigue or is that just kind of a lack of effort and maybe they go hand inand but you got to worry about this defense a little bit the symptoms have been there for about a week uh against the Clippers they allowed 77 in the first half tonight against a much less

Accomplished team they allowed 80 g not much good to say about is for sure I think maybe I’m fatigued a little bit Gater the game should be fatigued but he’s here and he’s given us his best game right he’s in Dubai matter literally today uh and he is back but uh

Listen let’s talk about a couple things let’s start with the Houston Rockets in that first half Lakers gave up 78 points in that first half that’s the most they’ve given up in the entire year at that first half marker 20 fast break points for the Rockets felt it coming into this game

That they could jump on the Lakers and they did that Jaylen green shenon combined for 65 68 points uh and also another key play in that first half BR V getting kicked out yeah I mean obviously he was he let Dylan Brooks get the best

Of him they had a little shove after a whatever the play was and then hav kind of flipped at the back of his head so Dylan Brooks baits him in there Dylan Brooks is the first one to shove Vando shoves him back he gets caught gets the technical gets frustrated and then that

Escalates and now you lose him for the game yeah you lose your energy guy you know your high potent energy guy and and my thing with with JV word of advice if you going to get thrown out get your money’s worth you know what you did say

That if you going to get thrown out of game my man get your money’s worth that crushing AI Sushi you did say you said and it was fantastic tonight if you going to get thrown out your money’s worth get your money’s worth cuz just going be fine just a little like yeah

That a little like I mean no he wants that one back then other thing as a veteran as a veteran you know there’s going to be a point in time during the game where you can get him back anyway yes you know you wait hard screen you

Know you wait just keep your Poise wait you going to run a couple of plays and then boom you getting back that way but to get thrown out on that you know get your money’s worth if you’re going to get thrown out yeah know your personnel

Too you know you sometimes you have to know your personnel well enough to not get involved in something like that Byron’s right there are ways you can get people back but you don’t have to give them the attention that they’re seeking Dylan Brook seeks attention immediately

And he wants you to a reaction and you have to know your personnel Dennis Robin was kind of like that you had ignore him and just go out and bust his ass on the court and that’s what you have to do and you find ways to get your elbows in and

Get them back to let them know that you know what’s up but you have to know your personnel not to get distracted and particularly as important as he is to the defense can’t get thrown out of the game yeah we saw a little bit by the way

Of D’Angelo cooling off three of of 11 excuse me from three-point range uh still had his 20 plus points but second half he was really kind of pushing the shots for the first time in a while I thought one thing I did like ad hit three threes he was shooting

105% from three-point range this month so good to see him get that back but if that’s you know that’s the main positive point of the game that’s probably not a real strong one for the Lakers so I want to ask you guys this 24 and 24 48 games

In right and and I know brez and I talk a lot about this uh on the non-game night show especially leading into January showing the board 15 games in January 11 of those were going to be at crypto and you’re going in going okay 10

And five 11 and four you have a chance to make a run and I think Byron hit it on the head when you said you know OKC Dallas had an opportunity against Brooklyn big win against Golden State big game you have a chance to so it seems to keep happening and James here

You are seven and seven in the month yeah s seven in the month one game to go tomorrow night at Atlanta are you disappointed is that the word I I was trying I mean look there as a team you have to look at the record I don’t know

If they do or not but as a team you have to look at your your week your two weeks and you have to say look win win win win and stick to that and especially when you have a game like you know tonight where you just had a big game against

Golden State you get a chance to maintain or even move up in the standings you you have to like sacrifice for that you know if you’re TI when you get in you have to find a way to conjure up some energy you know you have to verbalize it be about it but

You can’t go in and give up 42 points in the first quarter Houston no was their game after that it was it was a it was uphill battle after that and Byron brez and I looked at that board so many times we played that game so many times in the

Beginning of January and you could really convince yourself 11 and four was reality so it was 10 and five like because you’ve seen this team play well yeah I mean you see how they play exactly what what you guys are looking at and I and I agree but right now after

48 games you got to understand this they have shown us who they are this is this is our team right now they are a 500 basketball team is as much talent as they have they are 500 basketball team cuz they’ve shown us time and time again

When we know that they should be better than this we know talent wise they should be probably 32 wins right now you know or 30 wins right now cuz they’ve given away some games yeah yeah but this is who they are you know and I think we

Got to come to the fact right now at this particular point right now in in the season this is what we have is a 500 basketball team with this Los Angeles Lakers team that we have assembled right now I think I think it’s us and the fans

That are looking for more but in reality when we look at the team that they have the the players that they have because we also believe in the team right you SE we’ve seen it AB so I mean you know reality is this is what we got this is

Who we are yeah it’s not going to get any easier so tomorrow you have to play in Atlanta you know game three of the six-game Grammy trip one of the worst defensive teams in the last 20 years but they will put points up on you especially if you’re fatigued and then

Two days after that they’re at Boston two days after that they’re at New York yor the team that just lost Julius Randall for a few weeks because of a shoulder injury but the Knicks are playing out of their minds I’d argue I like when they play those games cuz

They’re the bigger games I feel like guys are more dialed in yeah you know I like that theory you know Boston’s tough yeah you know uh this Houston team just gave up 145 points to Boston a couple weeks ago so Boston’s going to be a definite challenge but you know I think

You’re right look at the Golden State game the Lakers got up for that game that was a huge win darham afterwards was elated he said we needed something like this so it’s just disappointing for the Lakers from from the perspective that they come back and fall flat like

They did yeah like I said we’ve said a lot of times individually some guys are playing basketball they just got to get it just haven’t been able to put the other slice of bread on the sandwich y yeah all right let’s hear from Darin ham he’s speaking with Mike on the media

Nice yeah Dar what did uh where did you see things turn in that first quarter IED to started but then you got back into it a little bit before they made the bigger push what do you think the difference was I you know we I think we

G just gave them too much early um you know we talked about shifting showing them bodies um you know coming into the game last 10 games they number one points in the paint but also 29th in assists so the biggest thing for us was you know

Trying to be great on the ball um and have a ton of support behind that initial on ball Defender and I think we just let we gave him too much earlier transition easy drives drop offs you know team gets a rhythm like that gets the confidence and next thing you know

Everything starts going in for them they threw in some threes early uh but yeah they had too much access to our paint I think it was a 9-1 offensive rebound Advantage for them in the first half is that along the lines that absolutely we have to finish possessions um you know

We we we got to defend there there no other way you know there don’t there’s no shortcuts there’s nothing like that like we got to play defense consistently night in and night out again be great in transition um be great on the ball give that on ball

Defender once again a lot of support with our shifts and activities and we got to close teams out of possessions without giving them multiple looks at it you know everybody game rebounding holding them the one possession not giving up offensive rebounds multiple offensive rebounds and and just consistently getting strong as the game

Gets longer in those areas when you get down 30 how you feel that b don’t you have a game tomorrow night it’s still let to be the average it’s it’s tough it’s tough that’s the toughest position to be in um when the game gets away get

Away from you but you also have a lot of time left uh you know you’re taking that chance of trying to cut the lead down which we did um that group of I think it was DLo Max ruy Bron and Jackson they really play some good minutes uh but you

Know the deficit is so huge at that point that you chopping it down chopping it down you basically got to play perfect basketball um I think they we spotted them like the first 29 30 minutes I mean we made some shots up in between there but we didn’t offer much resistance in

Terms of stopping them and and controlling the ball keeping the ball out of the paint the Zone helped us a little bit that helped us uh dig into the lead you know chop chop down some of that deficit but at the end of the day

You know it it was a you get down 30 is is again you almost have to play perfect basketball to finish out the game you didn’t go back to 80 in the fourth quarter was that uh because of the Rhythm that that group was in with

Jackson at the five or was that because of the the groin or combination of both it’s it’s a combination of both you find a group that’s playing well had a couple of timeouts to play with wanted to see how far you know we can dig into the

Lead and you know it they they made some plays at the end of the tail end of that run that that pretty much secured them uh the win um and then plus you know knowing a is dealing with some physical issues so being really careful and cautious precautionary about putting

Them out there do we know the plan for LeBron and tomorrow not as of yet we’ll we’ll find something out I’m sure later on tonight and you know tomorrow morning at the latest I I imagine um you value Jared Ville for playing with activity and playing with aggression um obviously

He got tossed early before getting to dyl Brooks um is that just what what do you make of it does he need to control himself better in that situation no it’s hard to control yourself man you know compet being competitive is is is one thing Dylan Brooks is one of the most competitive

Players that our league has um competes at a high level but you know when you whether it’s cheap shots or you know putting players at risk of injury with certain plays you know it’s it’s I just watched it again before I came in here pushes him on the back you know a guy

That’s in the air Airborne defenseless uh and then you know bronze play Ron goes to the basket and it’s a double move with his arm his one one arm you know trying to deflect the ball and it goes back and then it goes across his face so you know maybe Dylan Brooks

Shouldn’t have been in the game either uh but it’s unfortunate and and I’m a salute and my hats off the vend for taking up for his teammate taking up for himself and his team so it’s it’s it is what it is coach um we didn’t really get to see

Vanderbelt what does he add to the roster and what type of player is he just coming to the roster uh I mean just everything man just he like I said he’s one of the best Swiss Army knives in the NBA with the his versatility defensively the amount

Of things he can do you know from initiating a break catching and finishing in the paint um playing in the half row playing DHL basketball offensive rebounding um getting deflection steals uh making all the hustle plays you can possibly ask for a bunch that don’t show up uh in in the

Stat sheet uh but he’s just he he he gives us a lot of Versatility in doing the small and tangibles that you need to win J you’ve talked a lot about Ruby this year and wanting him to kind of be aggressive and it seemed like he did do

That tonight got the free throw line and made it shots how how do you approach just trying to find him minutes when obviously you got LeBron ad but he sets up some success playing like 3 four how how you approach ruy this year and what did you think tonight my biggest thing

With ruy is him coming off and no matter where we play him him playing assertive decisive aggressive basketball I said we’ll figure it out he and brown are both talented versatile same with a um they’re all ball skilled they all can dribble pass and shoot um so it it’s

Where he slotted it’s based on matchups anyway like who he’s guarding not so much can he play alongside those guys he actually plays great with those guys but um it’s just a matter of finding the right matchups and and or you know going Zone like we did you know minus ad but

With Jackson ruy and and Braun you know we can figure out ways for them to be on the floor and make it work uh but just him coming off the bench and not just him all of our guys you know got to do a better job of coming in the game ready

To play uh and and and getting into a Rhythm by doing the little things the intangibles not just trying to score the ball last one Kevin has the defensive slide over the last month become a concern for you yet we yeah I mean you can see the you can you can

Definitely see the carryover when we able to have a shoot around get on the floor and break down things and talk through things um you know obviously film points it out the numbers point out what you’re not doing well what you are doing well um but you know to be able to

Get on the floor talk through things um even though it’s not at full speed it’s at half speed but you’re still you know visualizing what you need to do to execute on that side of the ball and and it helps to be able to get on the floor but make no excuses

Whatsoever we we uh we’ll get better we’ll we’ll definitely get better that’s going to be a point of it’s been a point of emphasis it’s going to continue to be a point of emphasis and we got a lot of footage to show one last one for me you

Changed up the early rotation you had um Austin be the guard you know with the second with the MCH unit start the uh second instead of DLo which have been the case in previous game just what went into that I guess what you looking for

But that sh I mean with Cam out um obviously we lose van early um now at this point you you’re trying to just make some match and see what gives you the most balance and it’s player player performance as well you know is you put people in the game and if they don’t

Play well then you got to make adjustments on the Fly and you got to read adjust some things within your rotation thanks coach yeah Talking about you know defense in the first half clear the Houston um 78 points what what needed to be better on the defensive end tonight yeah I mean they got yeah they got all the hustle plays um a lot of 50-50 plays um a lot of miscommunication on

Our end that kind of led to them getting some um easy ones you look up man that’s all a team needs to get some momentum and some of the best players get some Rhythm so big winning gold state obviously took a lot out of you guys just from aw

Standpoint but how do you how do you find a way to to sustain that play you know a little bit better I guess than it’s been with the record yeah I mean it is tough our schedule’s crazy right now but just think it’s mind over matter you know um

Keep digging to get one you want to win on this road trip win out out right we don’t want to go home with a losing record so we have to get it out the mud when you guys get down 30 at what point do you guys think you still have a

Chance or do you start thinking to watch tomorrow’s game at Atlanta uh I don’t know when we were down 30 but I think in the fourth quarter around 78 minutes one more push and that’s when you usually I think as I think that decision should be made um

Um once again that’s that’s on coach you know and we got it back to back so I think it’s definitely something that we should do considering the practice time is so scarce you shoot around time to scarce with the travel said what practice time scarce and shoot around

Time that even scarce with some of the travel and back to back scenarios can making that push in the fourth cutting it from 24 to 10 providing any sort of continuity that can carry over to the next game like you substitute practice time with with game time I guess is that

Possible I don’t know what you’re asking me can it help the team to in the scenario you guys played tonight play some guys in the fourth together rather than just go straight to the bench U to try to have a carry over I think the minutes um that guys are playing it’s

Kind of hard to keep them out there with a unit you know it’s just kind of overloading guys um guys aren’t healthy once again um forces you to go down even deeper on the bench but like I said that’s a coach’s decision and um I mean

It’s tough when you when you when you kind of run out of options you know we we did a lot of different things today and couldn’t find a way to respond so it we’ll figure it out how tough is it to lose P so early inning man that

You guys lost I mean we’re down 20 already right you can say it’s tough but it’s not on him somebody’s got to do something right I think I think he did the right play um just seeing the black history ones kind of coming up um who are some

Of the black history uh people that kind of inspired you and why um Ali is one of my favorite um just hometown hero for me um same high school things like that always been a Ali fan um somebody I just kind of pride myself of following

So I mean I can go down the list but that’s that’s really my my main guy cool 23 points and 29 minutes for ad let’s go inside the Laker locker room he’s with Mike ad you want to start asking about the defensive end clearly first half especially Houston scores a

Ton of points and then to start the third quarter same thing what what are you seeing on that side of the Court uh making shots made a ton of Threes um on the last 10 they points in the paint uh dominated that again uh wasn’t rebounding um so Second Chance

Opportunities uh I had a more physical uh aggressive team tonight especially on that end on their offensive end our defense and um you know try to make a run towards the end but you know you spot a team you know 19 15 19 20 points

Um you got to kind of have like a perfect storm and uh you know you can make a Rong one shot don’t go in you know it’s tough but uh they came out uh played really well and uh we did it so take just kind of tonight aside the

Last couple of weeks are you do you think that the defense are there still enough sort of tools there to where you guys were playing on that end earlier in the year even as the offense has gotten better or there are there certain Staples of that side of the floor that

Haven’t been as good lately um I mean we have the tools uh obviously you know missing van uh was a key part obviously missing cam but uh we have enough to be better defensively than we were tonight what did you see with Bando out there last we

Seen lose any kind of composure when he plays but what did you see yeah I mean he going for you know a wide open dunk and he just pushed him in the back know it’s not a safe play You know guys get hurt like that and uh you know

You got to know the type of player he is um you know you kind of that they just keep going on and kind of provoked it you know he talks and says whatever he wants to the refs to players and at the end of the day we men no men is going to

Talk you know to another man the way he was talking to V so no vend did what he had to do even though obviously you guys could use his skill set um on the on the court Darvin kind of said the same thing like you

Know he backed up the way vend stood up for himself um and he suggested maybe Dylan was the guy who should have been out of the game um do you feel like Dylan crossed the line either on that or the play with LeBron yeah uh both I mean

You take a hard foul party basketball but you just not going to blatantly just push someone in their back you know when they have no control of their body in the air um I think he should have got ejected for that um and then you know

The BL obviously you know that him and Bri has their whatever and um from what I it was just a blatant hit BR to the face so ref saw it differently um that’s what it is though how’s your how’s your groin uh little sore Darin said that

That was a factor for not going back to you in the fourth quarter was that was it flaring up I guess at some point in the second half yeah I just couldn’t uh move how I usually move um on both ends of the floor so any idea about tomorrow night for

You I think it is the question it’s the first back black history month coming up um who are some of the black history figures that kind of inspire you and why U my dad cuz he’s my dad cuz he’s my dad thanks thanks so ad uh gotten through it

Obviously and we’ll see about tomorrow night second night of a back toback um obviously the hip spasms uh limited him in that Golden State game pretty valant effort actually by the Laker team and for ad but you heard him talking about Dylan Brooks right there and I think

That was pretty pretty interesting how he said listen he can just go out there and act this way and do things and there’s no repercussions and it’s okay to do but if you bounce back or you shove him back all of a sudden you’re you’re kicked out of the game and and he

Took it a little too far with the hit on LeBron and then the pushing the back on V and I I I I agree with M uh big game that’s my biggest issue sometimes is you know guys are allowed to play a certain way and when you return that Unfortunately they don’t punish

Both Dylan Brooks has been very consistent with his being a bully yeah and you know trying to you know be physical with players that’s something the referee’s not going to take care of you got to take care of it yourself absolutely I’m just sorry about that you

Got to waste one you got to let him know and if if he continues to do it you got to find somebody else to do it a second time and you got to you got to find a way maybe not right away but you got to

Get him back he hits people in the face he hits people in the head he does all kind of crazy stuff no damn way he gets away with that you’re shaking your head you’re thinking back to your time he wants a one day contract I’m just I’m thinking back in

The day like you said he he he is he’s a a darker version of Danny a back in the day day and he and he still lightskinned it he light so there’s no way in hell that would happen back in our day there just no way I mean I’m I’m sitting here

Shaking my head cuz I’m like bro seriously yeah I would have just waited my time but I’m going get you back M I’mma get you back and like clever just said referees won’t take care of it I’ll take care of it myself yeah and you got

To get to that point as a player because at the end of the day like it’s it’s a mano imano yeah you ain’t going to talk to me any type of way you going to be putting your hands on me without getting repercussions no man it ain’t happening

Like that and there way you can get him back without getting a foul call on you absolutely we’ll do a breakdown one day you still too lightskinned ain’t no way hell be doing that to me back oh hell no this is going to continue the commercial break and H bothered over here story

Time at break what you see with uh what you think LeBron tonight actually played 37 minutes I was just looking at that a lot of minutes and uh still had a great game yeah you know ad had a great game and you could tell he was laboring you

Know D’Angelo played extremely well the first half really tapered off the second half uh but again way too many fast chance points for Houston they just had the energy and the effort all night long for 48 minutes and the Lakers if you look at them statistically you know

On the offensive end they had a pretty good night yeah but when you get you know almost doubled in fast breaks and and tripled in Second Chance point is you know it’s almost impossible to win the game and then there’s the factor that you know we we were Lakers for many

Years five six seven eight years so we we we we got to understand what it was like to be a Laker every night everyone wants to beat your butt every night so even games that you’re supposed to win those teams are going to up the Annie a little bit they’re going

To want to go against LeBron and AD they want it’s their time to shine so that’s just extra burden you have to carry that’s just of being a ler you got to you got to just be ready get strong to carry that and if you’re not ready for

That some night you know this is this is how the outcome is they want to beat the Lakers they want to be going to have more juice yeah fans are going to be absolutely all right let’s go inside the Laker locker room LeBron is speaking with Mike in the media LeBron what did

You think was lacking defensively in the first half tonight um the first half was lost in the last two and a half minutes of the first quarter we didn’t get back in transition um you know and they and they just they ran out on us that was that

Was the first half right there that was like a 12-2 run Whitmore had a couple run outs and that stretch it is it is that something that was isolated to this or anything systemic about you know the last couple weeks just didn’t get back you just have a sense of like you know

Care Factor we didn’t have no care factor in those last two and a half minutes fando uh obviously got the objection tonight you’ve had you know Dylan Brooks has had his issues coming after you in certain ways you tonight again you got hit regain composure how

Do you deal with that how do you kind of talk to Vando about things like that that are going on in the course of a game we just got to be a better team uh be you know going be better to win ball games and we wasn’t tonight the defense’s overall

Struggle over this last month and a half compared to the start of the Season what’s the biggest thing you’re not seeing work out there I don’t know we were here earlier in the year uh we asked you about Brooks and you said next question uh we said the defense some of

The issues as of late has come down in communication amongst teammates um how can that improve guys got to communicate you got to know what we’re doing out on the floor first of all um and then when you make adjustments throughout the game you got to know when

The adjustments is made so everybody’s on the same page um so everybody need to be in tune of what we’re doing so there’s no mishaps and then sometimes there will be mishaps you got to cover for one another so you know the game ain’t just it’s not just exes and no is

Also being able to be able to you know you know do things on the fly as well when things break down or you know the game presents different challenges when it you guys get down 30 and KN you have a game tomorrow night how do you try to

Balance trying to get back into it to Hope the win versus looking for tomorrow’s the game you don’t look to tomorrow you only focus on the game at hand you know the game is I’ve been in games where I’ve been you know up 30 and maybe I’ve lost that game and I’ve been

In games where I’ve been down 30 in one game so game is never won or lost when you up a certain amount of points until them to the zeros on the clock huh you play tomorrow yeah I playing on playing that that was my question you mention last question Black History

Month coming around the corner who are some of the key figures that kind of inspired you I know the list goes long but just who are a couple of my mother Ronnie Bryce Zuri uh those are most important and my wife Savannah and why is that cuz it’s family over everything appreciate it

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