“Russell is the key to the Lakers’ Playoffs” -James Worthy on LeBron-less Lakers’ stun Bucks 123-122

“Russell is the key to the Lakers’ Playoffs” -James Worthy on LeBron-less Lakers’ stun Bucks 123-122

Hello welcome to axis sportset Lakers driven by your Southern California Honda dealers I’m Mike Brenan joined by big game jamesworthy Derek fiser guys I need to take a deep breath I need a paper bag to breathe into what what an unbelievable finish Lakers win 123 to

123 122 excuse me uh so many big moments DLo has to be where you start this conversation nine threes 44 points his first 40-point game since 20 9 defish keep in mind LeBron did not play tonight ankle injury and AD we got to talk about this later in the show uh left shoulder

It appeared he injured it at towards the end of the third quarter really kind of dragging it around in that fourth quarter had only two points and two rebounds didn’t matter Lakers a huge win against a second place team in the East def fish yeah it was a quality win I

Mean the Bucks have been playing as good as basketball as anybody else in the league they they’ve played well coming out of the All-Star break uh you know without LeBron tonight D’Angelo’s performance tonight was like an MVP Warriors maybe without step for a couple games with the ankle injury so

The Lakers can maybe flip it and go from 10 to nine at least and then continue to work their way up in the western standings yeah Lakers now half a game ahead of Golden State they are currently a ninth in the west and not too far out

Eighth place about a game out of eighth place big game yeah and you know what I’d like to see is as big a game as the Sacramento game was it was a disappointing let down to be able to bounce back and realize that hey you

Know we might not be moving up like we want we may be disappointed losing at home but we’re going to bounce back without LeBron and we still are in this uh if we have to be in the ninth or 10th spot so be it we’re in it Miami proved

Last year I believe that you could come from a long way and still get there so I think you know if they just stay focused they know they’re better than what their record is so I just thought tonight was a good Collective effort it was D’s team

Tonight he ran that team well got everybody involved but I also thought the energy of Hayes uh and also the bench was a little bit more productive tonight with with Prince so I I I just think it was a good victory and something they can they can build on

Spencer Den Wy a absolutely huge block shot in the closing seconds he’s here with Mike Trudeau all right picked him up after he was cut uh this is his La moment he went to Taft High School in the valley then he left the state to go to Colorado

Bounced around the league a little bit I give Darin ham credit after Den witty was acquired by the Lakers and and Darvin talked about him for the first time he said wait till you see his defense he’s been playing a lot of really good on ball defense what a time

To show it I mean that block shot uh sure looked like Dame was going to you know get ready for the game winner potentially and Spencer didn’t W he said no thanks yeah what a what a nice pickup what to to have him available uh during

This time when when all our players are injured gave out Ved out to have him be available and it was you know the Game ending defensive play yeah two things one Lillard trying to take that charge on D’Angelo with the Bucks up four not smart defensively in terms of a veteran

Guy understanding the situation just give up too on the other end I thought Spencer Den witty during his interview the game plan discipline of understanding in an isolation situation the Tendencies of the player you’re guarding and understanding that Damen Lillard going to his right hand is it’s a more predictable defensive play in

Terms of being able to contest that shot at the end compared to allowing him to get left so he shaded his left hand to almost invite him to drive right so that then on the pullup jumper he he’d have a better chance of contesting compared to

If he got left where he could get the the step back and get the separation those are the little marginal things that decide games it’s not that you know the guy is just that much better than you every time you have to really understand those small things in order

To close out games and congrats to Spencer and and and to the guys for finishing it off James I want to go back to DLo with you I know D fish talked about him a little bit this is a guy who lost his starting job back in December

About 3 weeks he had to come off the bench one of those weeks he was injured and he gives that time a lot of credit because he got to watch see where he was needed in the offense see what spots he could hit from in the offense ever since

Then he got a starting job back Midway through January he has been on an unbelievable role tied his career high in threes tonight with nine took 12 threes make nine of them is that is that pretty good James yeah that’s uh that’s exceptional BRZ I mean uh you know

Sometimes you get you know players have to reset sometimes you have to you know you can play well then all of a sudden you have to you know r view your game maybe deviate add something and I think he’s he’s been able to do that uh he

Hasn’t gotten down on himself a lot of times guys were go the tank when they you know are failing if they’re not producing the way they should but the one thing I like about DLo is he’s he’s been able to balance out mentally what he needs to do in order to improve and

Sustain it and right now he’s at a good place where he’s playing probably the best basketball of his career consistently on both hands yeah and that to me what comes up is like how we make excuses for things that’s what it comes to mind for me because like D’Angelo playing this

Way is just him making a decision to play this way the time out with the injury the reset mentally of saying you know what I love this game I miss being out there with these guys when I get a chance to get back out there I’m not

Going to be as hesitant I’m not going to always defer to LeBron and AD before I check in with myself I’m going to be aggressive and be authentically who I am as a player and that’s an offensive-minded guy but that’s just a decision to go do that he didn’t just

Work just make a decision to go out and do what you’re capable of doing and he deserves 1,000% of all the credit and it’s always good to see that from a player yeah words to live by right there and let’s take a look at the standings

Right now you guys ready for a log Jam towards the bottom of the standings Lakers half the game ahead of Golden State in Ninth Place one game behind Dallas for eighth and again nine will play 10 in the playin tournament seven will play eight you kind of want to try

To get in that seven eight game so at least you have a little wiggle room the Lakers were there last year as the seventh seated team took care of Minnesota right away and they were done until the first round started a few days later so James defish they’re making

Progress you know obviously ice win against Oklahoma City a couple games ago rough loss to Sacramento as you alluded to James this is pretty this pretty uptight standings right here isn’t it it’s tight and if you can control your destiny you’ll fall in where you’re supposed to be you can’t control what

Other teams are doing you just have to continue to play the type of basketball that they’re playing obviously they’re going to be paying attention to the standards as they try to move up but if they just continue to play like they played against Milwaukee and worry about

That only and let the standard take care of themselves they’ll be okay yeah I mean the with the season series going to the Kings which why that one of the reasons why that loss was so devastating you almost have to like unless the king sustain some injuries or something

Really bad happens let’s say the kings are going to stay in seven but the Mavericks have started to dip uh they’ve lost some games recently got got a good win against the Heat recently but uh you can catch the Mavericks only being a game and a half back of them at the

Moment the Warriors have the easiest remaining schedule in the league I believe in terms of strength of schedule of their opponents Steph being out still gives you some room so assuming you know you’re going to be a nine at this point you continue to play well and you have

The chance to get to eight you’re still going to be in the same situation of you have to win games period so it goes all the way back to James’s point do not overthink this just focus on the things that you can control control the controllable which is your performance your game your

Defense your understanding of pushing the guy right instead of letting him get left and and that’s how you stack wins and keep in mind the Lakers in the throws of a very tough part of the schedule six of the next seven against teams above 500 good news is a lot of

Those games are right here in La so if they can just keep getting the home cooking going uh doesn’t get much easier on Sunday uh the Minnesota Timberwolves are still here uh they’re going to be here in town excuse me that team is still near the top of the standings how

You’re talking about a team that just lost Carl Anthony towns to miniscus injury but they are still playing tough ball James there is there’s no let up inside is there not at all and uh just because they’re missing one player doesn’t mean they’re going to come in

Here with the rest of their squad Edwards you know is really octane high octane right now but the lickers have something to pull on they’ve beaten some really good teams they cannot you know have you know the basic things you can’t give up a lot of offensive rebounds

Things of that nature but with towns out there’s not opportunity to uh to to take advantage of that and they that’s what they have to do all right let’s hear from Darin ham speaking with Mike in the media Darin Russell had 21 points in the fourth quarter spee can I go some Men break too easily not fun at all F you first my 10 blood you have been defeated for out of nowhere deated an enemy has been defeated for me of your tower has destroyed an ally [Applause] has deated enemy double kill despair over here enemy Onslaught shut [Applause] down life goes in guts come out fore speee spe For Once an enemy always an enemy First Blood this is for crossing the resistance [Applause] hey over you have defeated an enemy always prepare for the worst Once an enemy always an enemy your team has destroyed Tower an enemy has been defeated an enemy has been defeated double kill in spit trust is a luxury we can’t afford ultimate to my last an ally has been defeated ultimate

“Russell is the key to the Lakers’ Playoffs” – James Worthy on LeBron-less Lakers’ stun Bucks 123-122