Lakers/Pacers Postgame Analysis, J.Worthy, Bron, AD, Reaves, Coach Ham Reactions | March 24, 2024

Lakers/Pacers Postgame Analysis, J.Worthy, Bron, AD, Reaves, Coach Ham Reactions | March 24, 2024

Lakers put up a number tonight 150 the highest point point total of the year a big win over the Pacers guys as they get ready for a six-game road trip they’re now seven games over 500 by the way the Warriors lost tonight as well so Lakers

Move a couple games ahead of them Lakers had four players with 25 points or more they had 70 points in the paint they were 37 of 41 from the free throw line ad a big game and Spencer did wi he a great game filling in for DLo yeah yeah

Coming in as a starter I thought he was very aggressive you can see his patterns in the last few games he’s been really working toward finding his own game after trying to find you know some Synergy with the team I thought today was really a a very aggressive attitude

For him uh going to the bucket some dunks very aggressive also making the pass so yeah he did a good job uh filling in for ad I mean for for DLo sorry yeah I mean the Lakers you know in order to score 150 you you definitely

Need a lot of guys contributing uh but but getting to the free throw line atin give them that but we talked at halftime about the Lakers needing to limit their turnovers but also forcing a few more Lakers as of now at least unofficially only one turnover in the

Second half they had nine I think at halftime yep and then the Pacers who had three at halftime finished with 11 at least for now un officially six of those in the first quarter for the Lakers so three the rest of the game yeah so just that adjustment alone uh and protecting

The basketball that’s how you get to those extra free throws and offensive possessions so good win now it’s time to get out on the road Austin ree was 11 of 12 from the fal lines pencer did when he was eight of nine so 21 of 23 for those

We’re very excited for him and listen we talked in the pregame show when we got word there was going to be no dowlo I mean the way D’s been playing lately so where are you going to make that up for the Lakers and it’s got to be Collective

We talked about also AR stepping up in a big way but then when he filling in nicely and listen what an efficient game James 8 of 118 of 11 also had the five assists played good d uh so he played the complete game it was nice it’s why

They signed him because he’s capable he likes the sexy stats too he likes to score he’s capable and he’s reliable and the thing is is he understood his role tonight and tonight he was very focused and very aggressive so with that kind of force and that kind of initiative you

Know the energy just followed him all the way through the game it’s really good to just see uh when players have a a a great understanding of what’s required of them on a particular n um it’s it is easy to want to be what the

Stat sheet says you are and for a guy like Spencer Den witty who’s always been a score uh primary offensive you know priority within the game plan it’s great to see his ability to adjust and adapt and say okay tonight there are more opportuni for me be on the be on the

Ball make plays score buckets but he’s going to be willing on whatever the next night is to play his role score six points play great defense and do whatever it is he needs to do to help the team win guys that that can play back and forth that way score 20 if you

Need it but also score two and help you win those are the type of glue guys and role players that are best surrounding of your Hall of Fame Elite guys funny you say that because a few games back you remember you had two points yeah and

He had a plus 35 Plus 35 that’s what he just described that exactly who he is adjust is is a good word and that’s the one he used when talking to Mike trudell as well big game like listen this is who I am I I I’ll adjust to whatever

Situation I love the score don’t get me wrong but on this team when you have two of the best players in the world you add DLo as one of the best Shooters has also scoring over 20 every game that’s not his role so tonight he had to step into

A different role that is a valuable piece to have no doubt coach’s dream to have a player like that so guys let’s talk ad another big game for Anthony Davis when into beast mode there 36 points 16 rebounds 15 of 21 uh great match up there against yakam and Turner

As well uh two guys with length but uh he he he was tough to stop tonight fish yeah I mean we we knew that would be the case against the Pacers we talked about pregame uh you know we showed the inseason tournament uh final stats that don’t count technically uh but it

Counted in the mind of the Indiana Pacers that’s for sure yeah any of their backup guys that tried to match up with ad just not much of a a physical deterrent there uh but good efficient night for ad p is not a great defensive team but at the same time the the Lakers

Executed in particular in the second half without turning the ball over he set the tone he set the tone early you know uh with physical play inside he knew he had the advantage against uh Miles Turner and anybody else that came in so he set the tone early went inside

He had a couple fouls early that you know kind of frustrated him but I also thought it ignited him and getting a little bit more physical inside offensive rebounds he set the tone big game he to he got that third foul I think with over 5 minutes in the second

Darin kept him in till about a minute and a half I think that was good for ad yeah actually I know risky it’s risky uh well you know he’s he’s smart enough to know how to play through it uh and he’s you know he’s a shot blocker he kind of

Doesn’t go for pump fake so you you can trust him on one on the third foul I think all right let’s hear from Darin ham he’s speaking with the media well Darin just starting with the offense clearly it was there all night I think it’s the the most points the

Lakers have scored since 87 where where did that come along after it was a little bit Rusty in in the first game after the three days off I just thought God the ball moved the ball had some pop to it um um and guys just playing downhill you

Know uh not not settling not being indecisive we had screening well guys just again being deliberate where they wanted to take the ball quick decisions all of the above and you know it got spread around a lot and so um just got to continue that Trend and stay

Aggressive you know love and live in the paint as we like to do um try to win the free throw line and and just do it on a consistent basis on those late threes that Indy was hitting were were some of those blown coverages or and how did you

Think the def was the biggest thing we’ve been talking about is red and when we readed red aggressive red where in you know tipic cap to him Halbert and a couple of the ones he threw in late were from Deep what we call the four-point

Line and so uh but you know you got to know you know time and score situation and honor the call a couple of them you know we we yell red and there wor the screen and one of our mantras is no no screen no scheme but in that type of

Situation you just got to honor your teammates call honor the red call knowing that they’re hunting threes and and so you know it got a little Topsy Turvy there but then again you know getting ready to read up we got well heels above the three-point line he’s

Pulling from the logo down there so it’s just one of those things man just happy we uh came out on the right side of it and I told him after the game you know it’s just we talk about you know not just wins and losses but wisdom and

Lessons and the lesson is when you get a a 19-point lead whatever it was you got to come out and and finish them you know um you can’t allow them any type of breathing room you put a choke hole on the game you got to finish them but you

Know the wisdom is that we were able able to gut it out we continue to swing back and uh came out on the right side of this one Spencer got the start and you guys hadn’t won any of the games prior to T tonight when Russell had not been able

To play um what does it say about what he did tonight um how does it speak to how he’s accepted another role right because obviously tonight got the ball in his hands got more more shots was needed for that offensive um burst with you’re missing D’Angelo’s points but

Obviously that’s not usually what you guys are asking him to do I mean just that’s that’s the type of player he is he’s multifaceted he’s willing to accept and embrace whatever role is put in front of him um we’ve asked him to you know to defend defend some high level

Perimeter guys uh to play make uh as well and and and to be aggressive when he sees opportunities to be aggressive tonight he did all three um and that’s just who he he’s been in his career you know he’s able to step in uh when called

On and you know everyone from the days we had off in the film session the dialogue we had amongst ourselves as a team everyone just has been encouraging them to be aggressive be aggressive be aggressive don’t worry about you know this am I doing this wrong did I shoot

This one too soon don’t worry about any of that just stay aggressive and tonight he came out with that mindset and and then it worked out and we needed every bit of it and just now that you kind of finish out this home heavy stretch that

You had how do you feel about your group as you head into this final stretch with eight out 11 on the road extremely confident extremely confident sometimes you know the road you play you know on on the road in front of someone else’s own crowd not your own but a lot of

Times that time you get to spend whether it’s going from the plane to the bus to the hotel to the bus to the game shoot around everything in between you know you become more locked in with one another more more more cohesive uh not having you know the Daily Grind of uh I

Don’t want to call it a grind but the daily uh regimen of of at the facility then back dealing with you know family and all of that all of that super duper important don’t get me wrong but when you get out on the road you know guys

Get a chance to lock in with each other have more dialogue spend more time and I think we’re in a great space going on going on this upcoming trip Darin you mentioned pregame your guys’s ability to play different styles be it slower or faster uh do do you feel

Like this weekend was kind of an encapsulation of that where you have the game Friday it’s kind of a slugfest more of a defensive minded game tonight you guys are scoring 150 season high like does that kind of show that you guys can win playing different styles exactly yeah exactly that’s

Exactly it you got to have that diversity um you got to have that balance um and it was time segments in this game where we had to slow it down times we sped it up and it’s predicated on your defense as well you know if you’re able to turn people over and get

Live ball steals uh live ball deflections and those turning steals um you know you offense gets the humming you get dunks you get open threes your crowd gets into it it energizes everyone on the team and everyone in the building so a lot of that has to do with the

Defense but yeah we uh we pride ourselves on being able to do both Darin I think Mike mentioned earlier the 150 most the Lakers have scored since 86 887 just because of the way offenses I guess have evolved and seems like these scoring outputs happen more often than not recently just can

That appreciation for this kind of scoring out but still be there um considering the way that game has I think it’s happen it’s so common now man guys are more skilled um there’s more freedom of movement um you know the three ball the way it’s impacted the

Game you’re going to have these high scoring games like this man and as you can see you know I remember coming into the league in 96 and you know you have a 22 20 19 anything 17 of above or above lead uh it’s pretty much safe you know sometime throughout the quarter but

Nowadays it can evaporate in about five or six possessions you know and and so you have to continuously play continuously have a next play mentality but the skill level of these guys now and the way teams are shooting a three ball shooting a three ball and the

Volume of Threes that we’re seeing from game to game um it it it makes it where the this has become instead of a you know something that’s foreign it’s it’s it’s totally common now and so you just got to try to keep up as best you can in all the conversations Darvin

About how this is just the way it is in the same breath giving up 145 points 46 in the fourth quarter is it something that in a win you can key in on differently I imagine that that’s not exactly what you want to see especially

H no that’s not what I want to see as all was talk about well this is fine I can’t imagine it is oh my God we go to from holding you know really talented offensively talented Philadelphia team to 18 points in the fourth to what we give up tonight

46 I’m like man but you know you’re going to have nights like that it’s different ways you’re going to have to win games you know it’s going to be those knockdown drag outs and it’s going to be you know Ferrari versus Lamborghini on the highway sometime drag

Race and so for real and so you just got to the biggest thing is you got to keep pushing forward through the game no matter what type of game it is is um you got to keep pushing through it’s hard you get disappointed like oh man we had

This cushion it’s evaporated man what’s going on what are we doing this that instead of having that type of mindset just okay they made another three now we got to make sure we get something going on the other end as well um and then try to alleviate those and take them away as

Best we can I mean sometimes you know they got X second third possessions you know off off the off their offensive glass and you know we were careless with the ball on a couple of them couple of we played great defense and they made tough shots um it it’s just it’s a

Variety all of that but the thing again I can’t stress it enough to my team to you all we have to constantly have a next play mentality cuz if you don’t have that you lose a really bad loss with with the way that game had trended

And then what the turn it made and those guys storming back but us continue continuing the fight I think make all the difference in the world thanks coach yep [Applause] stop we’ll start T hey Austin how you doing good how are you good um obviously this is a

High-scoring game tonight last time you guys did this was 1987 as someone that stepped into more of a defensive minded role what’s something that you think you guys could learn from this game and take on the road trip with you yeah I think a

Lot uh you never want to give up 145 uh you know they did they got hot late um I think under a minute they probably hit you know three or four threes maybe more um but we just got to be better um you know on the ball in rotations and really

Just um collectively guard as a team uh when we do that you know you know you have 80 you know back there uh making things tough in the paint uh you know we’re a good defensive team and we you know are defensive minded kind of following up on that you

Do score 150 first time since 87 it’s like historic Mark um but these kind of nights these high scoring nights seems to happen very frequently in the modern NBA just how can you I guess digest that in a bigger picture and like where the League’s at and I guess how do you

Celebrate that kind of moment yeah I mean that’s uh you know to put up 150 uh you know obviously you were doing something you know right on the offensive end uh we shot 43 free throws made 38 of them uh which is a really good number as a team and you know I

Think we were just playing downhill physical um and trying to get to the paint and when you do that you get easy ones at the free throw line and then um on top of that we you know shot the three will so uh you enjoy it uh you

Know it’s not you don’t really plan on doing that every night uh so obviously you got to be better defensively but you know when it does happen and with the way they play you know a wins a win Austin how encouraged are you by um you know Spencer stepping into the

Starting lineup and you know without DLo in the lineup you guys kind of getting the chemistry going in in a win and his development oh I mean it he was you know spectacular tonight going eight for 11 from the field two for three from three uh you know on ball defense you

Know doing a little bit of everything and when he’s hisself uh you know he’s a really really good basketball player and you know that’s what we you know continue to preach him to do is just be hisself and you know it’s not easy anytime you step in a new situation you

Know kind of on the Fly uh it’s tough and you know sometimes you can get lost um in trying to you know do the right thing too many times instead of just being yourself obviously you want to do the right things and play the right way

Um but we know when he plays the game he’s smart and can play at the same time so it’s really just letting him be him Jordan um I mean um good question on Spencer but also Anthony Davis 36 points 16 rebounds it feels like every time in

The game when he plays bro he’s he’s dominant he’s been dominant all season he’s been here almost played almost every single game to as well what have you seen from him this season that you really enjoyed because I know you always talk about him and Bri and how easy it

Is playing with those two uh I just enjoy being his teammate uh obviously he makes life you know uh you know so much easier for everybody on the court um but for me um I don’t want to say more than anybody but it makes I mean it feel makes my

Life feel much easier when he’s out there on the court just cuz you know his dominance of the game on both ends of the floor you know you can be more aggressive on ball when you’re guarding the ball knowing that he’s weak side and then offensively um you know you know with

Bron and AD those are the you know probably top two guys on everybody Scouting Report so uh anytime you can put them in actions and uh make defense is kind of second guess getting back to them because that’s you know probably what you should do uh it just makes life

Easy so I don’t really expect you know anything less uh you know he continues to do it over and over again you feel like his IQ just talked about enough cuz he has a very high IQ I don’t think people really talk about it enough with

Him when it comes to his IQ because they don’t yeah I think it’s it’s IQ and feel I think his feel for the game is you know close to Second To None uh just knowing where you know rebounds are coming off you know knowing you know uh

How to get into to the right pocket you know in pick and roll situations and like you said his IQ you know that all kind of goes hand in hand uh just knowing the game knowing how you know people are you know going to defend him

And passing out of doubles all that so uh him doing all that you know really nothing new to meicha hey Austin uh you had that big block earlier had some uh seemed like you were pretty emotional after it some you’re pretty amped up can you just talk

About that play and and how’d that feel yeah I don’t get many of them uh so when I do I’m happy um but I thought I had a opportunity to to get a steal when Tyreek swung it um obviously uh I think I kind of second guessed myself

For a second then put myself kind of behind the play and when he drove I forgot who it was lowside kind of uh slowed him down for a second and gave me an opportunity to get back into the play and you know just try to make a winning

Play and it led to LeBron layup which is you know uh you know two big play play in um a big situation in the game so like I said I don’t get many of them so when I do I got to cherish them um but yeah just trying to you know make

Winning plays last two go Mike trell and Austin in the in the walk-off spener was talking about how the offense has been there so many guys can score that if you guys lock in on defense that’s going to be the thing on this trip how how have you noticed just this kind of

Shift in the team where it’s earlier this season the offense was struggling a bit you guys were running games on defense now it’s it’s shifted a little kind of in the other direction and how do you close these last couple games with that that in mind yeah I think um you know obviously

It it kind of um I don’t want to say depends on who you’re playing but style of Play and games that uh are different you know like tonight know Indiana plays at a super fast pace they get up and down shoot a lot of Threes

Um so you kind of are forced to play that way and uh like you said our offense has been clicking lately and I think it’s just being you know comfortable in um you know our game plans and then just that chemistry of you know continuing to play with one another

So uh obviously you know like I said we’ve got to be better defensively you know 145 isn’t going to win you know many games but uh it’s nice when you know those nights happen to be able to you know to flip the switch to which direction the game’s going and you know

Try to win that way question hey Austin uh kind of kind of like the block there was a play in the middle of the game where you drove and and you got fouled but you kind of cocked it back for a second oh no no no

I was not about to dunk it absolutely not is that is that something you’re ever looking for or trying to get on your I mean I would love to uh I just think you know uh I didn’t get blessed with you know the most athleticism in the world so um

It would have to be perfect situation me feeling good uh legs feeling right but no no that was that wasn’t on my mind at all appreciate yall 150 points tonight I got a little close to the end but you got to like that output uh yeah offensively we were very

Sharp um you know we had some turnovers early in that first quarter kind of that first half but we clean it up in the second half I mean we know we played him in the play in Championship um you know um and we know how high powerered

Offense they are so they’re not going to stop playing no matter how far they get down or how far they up or whatever the case may be so it’s a good win for us didn’t what he 26 points five assists what’ you like about his game just aggressive looking for a shot

You know and uh you know big time you’re coming off this long home stand now headed out on the road are there things that you want to take from this do you guys feel like you have a good sense of who this group is and where you’re going

Um I mean yeah we know who we are you know we want to defend at a high level obviously tonight 145 is not a high level but I mean against the Pacers just challenging they put you in so many different uh you know situations but um

You know offensiv we want to continue to share the ball we want to continue to get high assist games low low turnover games um and um just keep playing together and I think if we do that we’ be okay Ron what is the responsibility of face the league meant to you do you

See an obvious choice and who you think will proce or follow you you know once you and St and KD stu um I mean there so many great young talents in this league I mean um you know the league is in a good hands so you know myself Steph and

Katie and Russ and James the rest of the crew kind of the older Statesman uh who’ve been in this league for so long who represent this league at a high level you know when we decide to you know you know patch it up or whatever um they they could be in great hands

So yeah Spencer establish himself a scorer before he came here and so him scoring 20 something isn’t natur no based on the rest of his career but the fact that he did it tonight for the first time as a Lakers that speak to what his role has been in the other

Games that you know since he got here what you guys been asking him to do how he’s been executing and giving doing stuff that maybe other stops he wasn’t always being asked to do uh I mean it just shows what type of player he is

What type of person he is to be able to adjust his game to whatever the game fits and needs um and tonight we needed him to score and be aggressive and uh you asked me the other day about you know I was just unlocking him and I told

You I wouldn’t tell you and we did it tonight so you just played a 150 to 145 game in regulation is there any part of that that that stops you makes you think like wow uh no not really um I’m exhausted so um that’s what stops me and be like

Okay I need to get home and and get uh get some rest and get ready for this r trip but um you know obviously you know our league is so um so great offensively is so great you got so many players that that can play three levels

You know you got guys like you know you looking at Miles turn you’re looking at 80 they they finishing in the paint they picking the popping shooting threes you know you got you know guards getting into the paint and finishing at a high level you see you know AR in the paint

You see Spence in the paint you see TJ mcconell in the paint you know and those guys is just our league have so many great players that can do multiple things and you know when the game is with so much space and so much shooting um you know there’s going to be some

High some highs scoring games um you know throughout our league you’re watching games nightly uh with that activity are you also paying attention to sandings like what what level of the day-to-day uh gets your you know mental energy when it comes to where you guys are where you could be um it’s been

Flip-flopping so much over the last few weeks I I’ve I kind of stopped looking at it just kind of just like focusing on each game at a time so um you know obviously um you know we know we where we are right now but we want to

Just continue to try to play some good basketball it’s a good a a very testy road trip for us um it’s very rare I can’t remember in my career where I’ve had such a late East Coast road trip or vice versa when I was in the East to go

To the West so late in the season so um you know that’s challenging but um you know we look forward to it LeBron you uh launched a podcast this week uh what sparked the idea and why was J J uh the right guy to partner with uh what sparked the idea

Um I feel like um we was losing the essence of of um of the game of basketball and the true meaning behind the game of basketball and teaching Our Youth and teaching our teaching the people with the game of basketball really um what what it truly really means um you know I think

Um I was getting um you know very frustrated with the the daily comparison since every single day you know who’s better between you and Dave McMan or how does this affect your legacy or you know um if this guy played you know in the

50s would he be this or if this guy in the 50s played in the 2000s would it’s I mean it’s not good for the Youth um you know um you know obviously if you want to hear that you go to the barber shops but you know you’re hearing it every day

On national television and I feel like our audience needed a different approach and understand what really the the true essence of the game what I how I fell in love with the game and um when you have someone like JJ who has the kind of the same um mindset about the game of

Basketball very smart you know fell in love with the game for all the right reasons and um this is something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while I just um you know JJ was just it was perfect timing thanks uh ad 150 points tonight what was

It like out there that’s a lot of offense yeah I mean we allowed them to score 145 so um play a big fourth quarter from them uh 46 I think um it’s terrible defensively I mean they hit some some shots towards the end uh they needed threes but

Uh you know um you know we can do what we want offensively um as you can see tonight but we got to be able to uh defend especially when we got a team up like that um know try to give him no life um but

You know at this point in the season you know winers a win we’ll take it but um we got to learn from it as well no DLo tonight but Den witty 26 points five assists what’ you see from him tonight no just been aggressive uh I said last

Game he start to you know find his finding his way and um know he was aggressive last game he just carried that over you know being himself his some thre uh attacking the basket um being the SP that we need him to be how much do you the standings at this

Date of the season um a little uh I mean it’s everywhere right now but for us you know just try to control what we control and this winning you know one game at a time uh you know obviously we try to looking uh figure out how far we are behind 6C but

Um know you stretch yourself out is putting too much pressure on yourself when you constantly looking at it but uh I think we’re ninth right now so we just got to continue to play our style of basketball and focus on us and uh taking it one game at a time and just

Worried about winning that game um and if we continuously do that uh you know the rest to take care of your this trip coming out is there a number of wins in your head that would be um yeah I mean we want to win every game uh I think uh on this trip

We we beat everybody now that we play Indiana uh yeah we beating everybody um so we know we’re capable but um it’s the road you know um it’s going to be tough but uh we got the capability of winning each game uh we got to approach it that way ad you were

Able to do a lot of attacking one-on-one these last couple games just to just wonder the three days off did feel any better and just kind of getting into a better rhythm with yourself and when you’re going to attack your guy um well last game you know they

Uh they didn’t double um until late um well they doubled early and I was able to get going late and then tonight um they let me play one to one early you know which I try to you know attack men and uh then they started doubling a

Little bit and just kicking it out and guys start making shots um and then went back to the one-on-one coverage so um know I just try to read the defense you know they’re doubling me um make the right pass out and now guys been making

Shots and then if they they try to um go one to one coverage um not try to score a basketball we came into the season like depth was supposedly one of you guys’ big strengths and obviously injuries have you know hurt that Spencer is just kind of finding his

Legs Underneath Him how can he be kind of a important Cog over this this final stret you guys have very important um how he played tonight we’re going to need him to play like that for the rest of the season um it’s the offense man he can score

Whenever he want he’s a big guard he can defend um he played like that add DLo back to the mix um other guys get healthy we going to be a top team to beat and we get that depth that everybody you know was talking about um

And that we wanted to have coming to the season so um add and gu like Spence um only helps us but uh we’re going to we going to need him to be dispense he was tonight thanks thank you most games with 30 and 15 you know

Didn’t want to be in the paint when he was around there but 29 more than Shaq is crazy I know it’s crazy but ‘s on his way sha Shaq didn’t miss very much around the ring

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