Why LeBron James & Los Angeles Lakers are in major trouble | Hoops Tonight

Why LeBron James & Los Angeles Lakers are in major trouble | Hoops Tonight

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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball all right moving on to Lakers Kings this was a game that happened on Wednesday night I was texting us Sam Vini after Lakers Thunder and I told you guys I was having

Like a little bit of fun at his expense because I I I think ‘s like at least a coin flip chance that the Lakers don’t even get out of the play in tournament let alone uh make noise in the playoffs they’re not a team I believe in anymore

Ever since they didn’t make a trade at the deadline uh that said like that matchup specifically against the Thunder is one I’ve always liked for the Lakers and so I texted Sam and I was having some fun at his expense and you know having taken a little Victory lap but I

Texted him right after that and I was like but I think I was like I’m nearly 100% sure they’re going to get smashed by the Kings and that they’re defense is going to get absolutely shredded and the reason for that is something that I’ve talked about a lot on the show I talked

About after the Warriors Bucks game matchups matchups to me are the main determining factor for wins and losses for basically every team outside of that Boston and Denver tier once you get below those two every single team you run into has a certain strength and a certain weakness and multiple strengths

And multiple weaknesses and really it just depends on how those strengths and weaknesses kind of link with their opponent right and like that’s the thing like there’s a reason why the Lakers have had success against the Thunder there’s a reason why the Lakers have had success against the Clippers there’s a

Reason why the Lakers have had success against the Suns this season it’s because in those particular matchups those are teams that have guys that have Shifty approached to offense and take a lot of Pull-Up jump shots and the Lakers do have a lot of length they don’t have

A lot of perimeter speed but Austin is a guy that is he’s not short by any stretch of the imagination D’Angelo Russell is not short by any stretch of the imagination they’re just slower T toian Prince is not short he’s just slower right and so against those types

Of matchups they can slide their feet and be disciplined and offer a late contest and get teams to miss and then on the other end of the floor because those teams aren’t overly fast they can have some success scoring the basketball here’s the problem with Sacramento Sacramento is not a Shifty shot making

Team they have speed guards it is it is like we’re coming at you like this all game long and like I was impressed at the Lakers even jumped out to the lead that they jumped out out to but then like as soon as that right around the end of the first

Quarter the uh um and heading into that second quarter run they brought in toian Prince and put him on on on Malik Monk and then they started running action where basically like a version of Spain pick and roll where they’d have like uh deer and fox come off a ball screen and

Then they’d have Malik monk back screen for the big man as he’s roll Alex Len as he’s rolling to the basket and and they were just putting the Lakers in the blender Jackson Hayes was on the floor in this group and they kind of got into

A rhythm a little bit and then from there Malik Monk and Daren Fox are both playing with confidence and when they’re playing with confidence they see tissue paper when they see Austin Reeves they see tissue paper when they see D’Angelo Russell they see tissue paper when they

See torian Prince on the perimeter and then what happens because like the kings are an interesting team in the sense that like they we think of them as like a high-powered offense who’s going to outscore people and that was kind of what they were in the regular season

Last year but really when you look to their success in the postseason last year when they won games against Golden State and this year they win when they win with defense like when you look at their opponent Point totals it’s when they keep teams below that threshold I think

It’s like 115 points or whatever when they when they hold teams down their win percentage is gigantic better than what it is when they give up large scoring games they have not outscored teams very well but they have been able to when they really lock in get stops they again

It’s I talked about this last night with Jaylen Brown about like discovering your superpower that extends to the team level as well understand what your superpower is as a team and for for Sacramento it’s it’s speed on the offensive end we discovered last year it’s not Kevin herder and Keegan Murray

Coming off of ball screens it’s not sabonis bullying his way to the basket it’s no one can keep Malik Monk and dear and fox in front off the dribble that is their superpower and then on the defensive end of the floor they have a ton of

Speed and like uh when you add in uh uh when you add in Keon and you add in uh um Davon Mitchell like they they have speed at the guard spot on the defensive end four Five Guys deep and and so like and what’s crazy is like

You could see it because they had a really bad defensive quarter to start in the first quarter and then when Fox and monk got going like you could tell it energized the team and they started defending they held the Lakers to 20 points in that second quarter and it was

Like a runaway freight train one of the craziest runs I’ve ever seen to go from being down 18 or whatever to basically blowing out the Lakers like it was like a reverse blowout it it was it was completely insane but again this is why I talk about matchups so much the reason

Why I wanted the Lakers to go out and get guard athleticism which was the number one thing I talked about after the Denver Nugget Series last year they need someone at the guard spot that is athletic enough but not too small to deal with the likes of like a Jamaal

Murray a big strong athlete it’s why I wanted Bruce Brown this summer it’s why I said at the deadline I’d rather have Bruce Brown than Deonte Murray that specific archetype is a specific type of player that the Lakers just do not have and so because of that it was like

That’s the thing the Lakers went to the Western Conference finals last year as currently constructed more or less obviously without Dennis schroer and with some other role players in the group they beat the Warriors relatively easily they beat the the the the Grizzlies relatively easily right like

They won in the same exact fashion throughout never lost a game at home in those two series The reason why is because those teams were not able to capitalize on the weaknesses that the Lakers have right and so as we go into uh as we go into the Denver matchup they

Run into a team that you desperately need size and athleticism at the guard position to defend in those joic Murray actions it was a huge problem and it was one thing against the Grizzlies when the Grizzlies don’t shoot enough shoot the ball well enough off the ball and they

Were able to just completely pack the paint it was one thing against the Warriors when everybody not named Steph went Steph went cold and they were able to just pack the paint and throw the the kitchen sink at Steph but as soon as they ran into a team that brought real

Shot creation at the guard spot with Jamal Murray obviously the two-man game with yic and the off ball spacing to punish them for helping it exposed their inability to guard actions one-onone and two on two I that is why I’ve preached about that non-stop I’ve never been I’ve

Never been of the belief that the Lakers can’t beat certain teams as currently constructed it’s like I talked about with the Thunder I’ve just that’s a matchup that works really well for the Lakers they are a Shifty shot making perimeter group and they’re too small on the interior and they’re too

Inexperienced the Lakers would eat those guys up in a playoff series in my opinion but these really fast teams that also have the spacing off the ball can cause problems for them and we haven’t even got to the center position sabonis kicked Anthony Davis’s ass in that game Anthony Davis has consistently

Struggled against the big bruising centers guys like sabonis guys like zubach guys like nerkish guys like joic because he’s got a high center of gravity they can shove him off of his spot sabonis was finishing through Anthony Davis at will he was bullying him bullying him on the offensive glass

It was a huge problem in that game that is so the the Kings just in general are really bad matchup for the Lakers because sabonis is a bad matchup for ad and their guards like the Lakers guards are just absolutely hopeless to guard them and like that’s the thing like I

Saw a lot of Lakers fans focusing on Darin ham and lineups and don’t get me wrong I’ve been one of the guys complaining about that all year do not agree with everything that darham did in this game I would have had a lot more max Christie torian Prince on Malik monk

Is something I never in a million years would have done but like like it doesn’t really matter they don’t have the personnel you could have thrown your best punch in that game and you still would have gotten your butt kicked I mean I shouldn’t say your best punch but

Your best tactical punch because from a Personnel standpoint the Kings just have significant advantages over the Lakers and that’s what that’s the group that the Lakers fall into now everything’s going to be about matchups for them whatever tiny sliver of a hope they have is going to be about catching the right

Types of teams along the way if they end up in a playin game on the road in Sacramento I would be stunned if they won you know but like if they ended up on the road in a single elimination game to get in against the Pelicans Shifty shot making perimeter guys and bat

Backline defense I would pick the Lakers 10 times out of 10 to win that game right matchups are going to be huge I shouldn’t say 10 out of 10 because obviously if it games in New Orleans they could just get hot and beat you but

Seven or eight times out of 10 I like the Lakers in that matchup matchups are going to be everything for this particular Lakers team and I thought that that Kings game was a perfect example of that going into the Bucks game tonight it’s going to be interesting uh because obviously that

Dame matchup is a little bit tough on the perimeter but they don’t have the the depth of shot creation on the perimeter that a team like Sacramento had with Malik Monk and dearn fox and so I think they might be able to piece together a better group for that matchup

And obviously they have uh uh the interior presence to kind of hang with uh Giannis and Brook Lopez so that’s going to be a really interesting one against the bucks later tonight but again matchups are going to be everything for this Lakers team he

Jason Timpf reacts to LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers blowing a 19-point lead in their 130-120 loss to De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings. Jason discusses why he has lost faith in the Lakers this season, and how he’s not even sure they’ll make it out of the NBA Play-In Tournament.

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/__jwRs2Cigw

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