LeBron Doubtful for Bucks Game… and Can the Lakers Catch the Suns?

LeBron Doubtful for Bucks Game… and Can the Lakers Catch the Suns?

Hey everyone welcome to locked on Lakers for Tuesday Brian ketki Andy kineski LeBron doubtful for tonight in Milwaukee but are the Lakers poised to make some noise on the road trip that’s Next you are locked on Lakers your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Thanks to everybody for making lockdown Lakers first listen of every day Monday through Friday no matter how or where you get your podcasts this one’s always free and never behind a pay wall and locked on Lakers on YouTube is where where over 23,000 subscribers are wondering what the future holds for the

Lakers particularly this road trip um as the Lakers really hit the final stretch of the regular season uh it’s looking more and more Andy like the Lakers will be in the tournament somewhere just not necessarily in the uh top six where you are guaranteed to play

At least four games I do want to let people know that today’s episode is brought to you by priz pick the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to priz picks.com lockon NBA and use the code all lowercase lockon NBA for a first deposit

Match up to $100 so um we Mike our friend Mike trudell uh who cover covers the Lakers for the Lakers um and uh he he has a really good breakdown of what the the rest of the season looks like for the Lakers as well as the teams they

Are chasing we’re going to take a good look at those numbers in this episode uh we’ll talk about cam reddish and ruie haimura um but let’s start Andy with the big news for tonight’s game LeBron James listed Monday uh the Lakers said as doubtful for the road trip over opener in

Milwaukee yeah obviously we don’t know the extent of how how long LeBron would be out assuming he is out tonight whether or not this will continue throughout the road trip um it would be consistent theoretically with what the Lakers have done with back-to-backs if LeBron did end up playing Wednesday in

Memphis it would be very consistent with what they’ve done with just the idea that we’re going to hedge our bets on pressing our advantage to make sure that we win the harder of the two games and then from there we you know a game like Milwaukee for example on the road I

Wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a scheduled loss because the Lakers just beat the Bucks and they’ve been playing well lately and they’ve had big- time short-handed even Road victories before but the Bucks are the favored team anyway this is a game where they might

Lose regardless so let’s just make sure that LeBron is there so we can secure the win that should be most probably in hand and we’ll see what happens with the bucks um I’ve said this many times because it’s happened a lot throughout the season it is the reverse of how I

Would do it um I I don’t think it is a silly logic and I don’t think it’s a unique logic I think other teams do it this way as well it’s just not how I would do it particularly considering the Memphis team that they’re playing they should be able to

Beat if you or I suited up well maybe me um I you we we tend to disagree on this one I think a lot of it is it really is dependent on the Medicals I mean there’re this is the same ankle that’s obviously been having LeBron listed as questionable for every game

Since like game four of the year um and so it may just be that he needs the rest it may not be a a purely binary choice between you can play on Wednesday you can play on could be they’ve also had play they have I mean again I realize

It’s not always the same situation by situation by situation but they’ve had him though play before in the first of the two while time to rest to your point there is you know if he were to you know obviously you get an extra day of rest

Um from the game on Sunday uh through the game on Wednesday if you don’t you know if if you don’t play tonight but the flip side of that is if you play tonight and don’t play on Wednesday the Lakers are off until Friday so I mean I I think without knowing the particulars

I uh I I tend to subscribe to the do everything to make sure you win the game that you’re supposed to win um and the Lakers have been so bad in the should in in the shs this year they’ve been so unpredictable against the Lesser teams in the league particularly teams that

Are filled with like goofy weird players that are you know filled with energy that nobody’s ever heard of that are are dying to make their Mark you know against the Lakers and um you know put themselves on in a box score on a YouTube clip or whatever it might be so

I’m okay with this the big question is I think whether or not we’re talking about a games worth of M or if this is something that’s going to pop up a couple times during um the the the stretch run these final I think we’re down to 11 games correct 11 games yes

Yeah so because that Andy makes a huge difference in sort of how this schedule thing breaks down and how many games the Lakers are capable of winning the rest of this road trip once you get through Milwaukee you’re talking Memphis a tough game in Indiana but then the Nets

Raptors and Wizards at worst the Lakers should finish this road trip at 4 and two and you know you would like to think that you know given where they are in the season that a split against the two playoff caliber teams in the East is possible and you finish this out five

And one for sure I mean the the the most concerning thing about this is just the idea that this is the time where LeBron is supposed to be ramping up everything and to his credit he Lar has been like whether whether on a game by- game basis LeBron has played well in

That game or not for the most part you’ve seen him Crank It Up on both ends pretty consistently not every single game but for the most part he has so this is a time where you’re hoping you don’t see LeBron have to do this sort of stuff anyway where he would just be

Playing on the second end of back-to-backs playing on in every game and all of the pacing himself and you know cautions that were taken throughout the course of the Season pay off to the point where now you don’t have to do any of it so the idea that this is still in

Play it doesn’t affect them necessarily the same way in the playoffs because you start having more gaps in between games you certainly don’t have backto backs but it does potentially signal issues that could flare up with that ankle for the Lakers in the playoffs assuming they’re in the playoffs for however long

Cross that bridge when you get there very optimistic framing but you know again my my issue with the way that the Lakers are handling this assuming that we are correct that this is just a you know choose between the two games you are correct I I’m not even making that

Assumption okay well assuming that I am correct in making that assumption because it’s felt pretty consistent with what they’ve done all year it’s just a more conservative approach than what I would do again I I’m not slamming the Lakers for doing it because I think there is a

Logic to it and it is not terribly they’re they’re not the only team that does it like this it’s just not how I would do it sure um one thing to note that is uh important here is that D’Angelo Russell who missed the game on Sunday with a non-co illness is

Apparently feeling better with whatever of the wide variety of germs and viruses that affect people that are not covid-19 uh the whole the pantheon of of ailments and afflictions that could have befallen d’angela Russell a quick case of a dum dum fever whatever it could be anything

Bubonic plague got over it real fast whatever it is he’s feeling better um we know what he didn’t have we just don’t know what he did dropsy I you know scurvy I mean did he eat a lime I’m not sure but he’s feeling better by the way

Go ahead and read an old sailing book and and learn exactly what scurvy did to you oh my God that is a terrible disease okay side note um from the side note with scurvy um if you are not watching the FX series shun it’s great change it

Because it’s very very good but the opening episode of show gun deals with scurvy and yes Ryan you you are not overstating the problems that came with scurvy back then if you got scurvy make sure to get your Affairs in order because you’re done you just sort of

Dissolve it’s aough good it’s is a rough way to go don’t travel without Citrus is the moral of the story um and this I I I before we get to the schedule thing in the next segment uh I want to start with something that I think could be kind of

Intriguing with DLo presumably back in the lineup and um LeBron presumably out of it so we’ll do that next lockon Lakers is brought to you by prize picks America’s number one fantasy sports app with over 3 million members we are the easiest most exciting way to play DFS just you against the numbers

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Picks pick more pick less it’s that easy more more side notes I I looked up during the break what exactly dum dum fever is uh it is a colloquialism for something called visceral L Manis probably mispronouncing that and let me just it’s otherwise known is the black fever and you don’t want this

Either and now I feel bad we’re even making making the joke um I mean we’re joking about scurvy you don’t want that I know just it feels more avoidable I know like this this is bad anyway take care of yourselves people um so I uh one

Of the things that I think is that that is interesting about this uh you know we talked a lot about Spencer deny after his 28o performance um on Sunday and the the the possibilities that uh you know a fully realized din witty on the Lakers

Could bring um we spoke on I believe it was Monday right Andy about his net rating uh and how well he has you know the type of positive impact he’d been having on the Lakers even before um one of the things that I thought was interesting was when is in the lineup

Data um deny and Reeves is a positive strong positive dwy and Russell is a strong positive the three of them together is also a positive and um you know smallish sample size and all that kind of stuff so I am curious to see how Darvin fills in the gaps obviously we’ll

See you know probably more minutes for ruie you’ll see more cam reddish um you could see some Max Christie and you know Tan’s minutes might go up do we ever see maxr Will I said could I I mean he’ll be there you know I mean you can look you

Can find him could see we could see more minutes for Harry Giles I’m just not counting on it good a lot of things could happen yeah um so I mean he’ll be there at the very least I I wonder if Darin will take the opportunity to try

And play a lineup obviously you know you’re going you have some some size issues there but D witty is a a pretty big guard and Russell is a pretty big guard and Reeves is not a teeny tiny human all that so at least by guard you

Don’t have like a six foot you know 511 or a six foot 165 pound guy running around there too the reason I say that is because those are three of your best players and particularly when you don’t have LeBron even when creating potential issues um around matchups and defense which

They’re not playing anyway I I wonder if your default is let’s figure out how to get our best players on the floor for as much as possible so I’m curious if he runs with more of these three guard lineups assuming um LeBron doesn’t play it’s certainly possible I mean if

You think about it for example who would start in LeBron’s place if he doesn’t play if you went with Den witty you are matching up even acknowledging that Den witty Reeves and DLo are not little for their position you’re still going to be matching up pretty small once you get to

The Middleton piece oh yeah Lake especially for a team that really likes to air on the size of air on the side of size and strength and physicality and being able to try to push your opponents around between that and I think some of the inherent defensive issues that could come with a

Three guard that particular three guard lineup because you know Dame is OB obviously a handful of the Lakers did a very very good job against Dame in the recent uh game in LA and Beasley is somebody that just requires a lot of tracking because he moves a lot they’re

They’re trying to find him open move him off screens stuff like that my expectation is that Darin would start cam because I think it’s I think that’s who he’ll start I just I wouldn’t surprise me if the three of those guys play together that’s all I’m really I I

Think that I think the use of those three would become much more matchup dependent over the course of a game as opposed to something that Darin would look to begin with could be wrong but my prediction would be if uh Lebron does not end up playing cam gets a start yeah

I I I I think that’s probably likely I just I’m curious to see if we’d see the lineup at all you did mention though it is interesting that you know they did a good job on Dame last time I know we were talking um for the show like for

All it’s it’s such a strange thing because the Lakers have been really bad like legitimately bad defensively um over the last know half season uh it seems like but the the sort of the exception that and it was true on Sunday against halberton for example is that

They’ve actually done a pretty good job against opposing like Elite level star guards yeah there was actually an interesting said silver screw and roll and I I can’t remember if it was either Jacob Roode or Alex regler who wrote it my apologies to whoever I’m not properly crediting or if

It was neither one of them but they they pointed out how ad said after the Indiana game that they you know they have done a good job with this you know with these high-end guards and I started looking back and they’ve had recently good or even great success or at minimum

Strong halves against halber Tyres Maxi Deonte Murray Dame SGA one of the games against Daron Fox the other one he torched him for 44 but one of them they had a very good first half against Darren Fox uh Anthony Edwards like they I think it speaks to a we talked about

This on Monday Spencer Den wtti has been far better defensively than I I expect I mean frankly I didn’t think about him anything defensively other than will he hurt the defense just because right he he does not have a defensive reputation the games that I’ve seen I’ve never been particularly Blown Away by

His defense maybe this is about scheme or recommitment or as I’ve talked about he seems like he has really tried to be a good soldier with his role and being told what the asks are and going after those asks but he’s been terrific defensively I think Austin Reeves few

Exceptions here or there has picked up his defense tremendously and then for for all of the I think correct concerns about D’Angelo Russell defensively and he’s certainly not a plus Defender he does certain things well particularly deflections and just de General disruptions like he is second on the

Team in both deflections per game and total deflections behind Anthony Davis and when it comes to Total deflections the gap between him and number three I I believe it’s uh uh tan is uh it’s either Toran or Cam uh is pretty big um it’s it’s a pretty sizable gap

Between him and and whoever is number three for total deflection so that that is something DLo you know he doesn’t stay in front of his man great for the most part and you know he he will get caught ball watching at times but he at least finds some ways to disrupt an

Offense but collectively and I think the last couple games cam has made a difference too right I think reddish against halberton and and against Maxi has has done really good work just having him back another disruptive Defender who can check some of these guards matters yeah I mean just it’s you

Know just the just the the the size difference really I think with reddish to have a different type of person to put on you know you’re kind of forced to use tan prince in ways that might not be advantageous of course none of this is really translating to preventing the

Other team from scoring very much but it could be worse I guess is basically what a lot of this what it may be is the difference between winning games with subpar defense and losing games with subpar defense like if you can we we talked about this after the Indiana game like

Pascal cakam absolutely torched the Lakers they had no ability to contain TJ uh McConnell they really had no ability to contain Miles Turner but they did a good job on Tyrese halberton that’s difference in a win and a loss when it’s 150 versus 145 right can you can you

Find the six minutes of defense that you need to make this work and they kind of found it in the third quarter like when you can build up a 19-point lead um which I think was the the high in in the Indiana game um like it does afford you

A little bit of cushion like you know the other team makes a run and stuff like that and it is difficult to build a 19point lead unless you’re getting stops at least for a few minutes so um I they’re just you know I think the the downside here is like we’re just never

Going to see like this like let’s see like five games in a row with like the entire roster like it’s just not going to be a thing um and you know we’ll see when they get an update on vanderbild we’ll see when they get an update on all

These other things but you know the opportunity is there we talked about it um for Monday we’ve we’ve noted the schedule issues uh and things like that and as I mentioned at the beginning of the show our friend Mike trudell um who uh covers you know does sideline

Reporting uh for the Lakers broadcasts uh writes for the Lakers and and uh you know travels with the team and all that he laid it out pretty plain like if the Lakers win X amount of games here’s what has to happen around the rest of the

West for the Lakers to move up it’s pretty instructive and we’ll get into it next lock on brought to you by better help and sometimes we all need the opportunity to get feelings thoughts off our chest big or small certain things can really just start to get to you and

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Your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA so the one other thing that I thought you you noticed something and I know you wanted to at least mention it at a couple time so we’ll see what if it happens uh tonight and obviously LeBron’s absence impacts this a little

Bit but uh cam reddish has finished games ahead of ruy um over the last couple um and something that any I think anytime ruy who had started to play really well seems to lose minutes it at the very least Andy’s gonna get the attention of a lot of Lakers fans yeah I

Thought it was interesting just because cam has only been available two games and he’s closed in both of them I think there are contextual details in both cases the Lakers were holding a lead um so you might go to a more defensive look against Indiana like I mentioned before

Ruie really struggled against Pascal cakam which would lessen the need to have him out there for defensive purposes or just a matchup in the first place um I you know I I have been a very card caring member of the give ruy more minutes Club but I didn’t have an issue

With with either one of these games cam closing and it I it’s interesting when cam was coming back we we took that viewer question about whether it would make sense to put cam in the starting lineup ahead of Reed actually moving Reeves to a six-man R and and what I

Said in response was I doubted that would happen but it wouldn’t surprise me if I wasn’t predicting it but if there was a change if reddish went into the lineup for ruie to give the starting line up more of a defensive look give ruie more opportunity to provide scoring

Pop off the bench it hasn’t happened at this point I don’t think it’s going to but it does sort of it reflects what I was saying might be the move just in the idea if you’re looking for more of a defensive look you would go towards

Radish yeah I I think that’s that’s true and it gets to some of the imperfections of the options that that the Lakers have um and that while it’s it can be matchup dependent and I I don’t think it’s sometimes for lack of effort I don’t

Think he dogs it on that side of the of the ball ruy does have shortcomings as a Defender and so and if he’s not providing a ton of offense or let’s say you’re on Pace to score 150 points and don’t necessarily need a lot of offense like that part of the game is

Going okay um some some adjustments are necessary or or at least justifiable so just something that you notied that that I I know uh had stuck out uh that was worth giving a couple minutes to so the Lakers I mentioned the schedule for this road trip four- two is the bare minimum

Of what they should do five- one is certainly out there if you split two hardest games of this uh r the Lakers been good against good teams so that’s that’s I’m more worried about the lousy teams to be perfectly honest with you um Mike trudell had a good

Breakdown of what it could mean for the Lakers over their last 11 games to try to pass the teams in front of them um let’s start with the Lakers going nine- two Andy if the suns are six and five Dallas goes six and six and Sacramento

Goes six and six that’s what the Lakers would need to pass one of the three teams ahead of them the Lakers go eight and three five- six from Phoenix uh Phoenix can go five- six Dallas can go five- seven Sacramento can go five- seven um the Lakers are seven- four uh

Phoenix can go four- seven Dallas 4-8 Sacramento 4-8 and if the Lakers are barely at 500 the other teams can essentially show up drunk and still keep themselves ahead of the Lakers so it really it really crystallizes the way the math works here like the Lakers need

If they want any real possibility of moving up at all they’ve got to win at minimum eight of 11 um probably nine well I will say this and I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying at all they’re off to a good start with this and the schedule for the Lakers is

Starting to soften up per tangon their strength of schedule is 21st in the league with a collective winning percentage among their opponents of 47% um and I had noted right before the home game against Atlanta was coming off the Golden State loss where ad had to exit because of the corneal abrasion

That the Lakers were entering the softest part of the remaining schedule and between the home game in Atlanta that was coming up and then the last of the road games coming up in Washington they needed to go at least seven and two I thought to maintain any hope of moving

Up or the very least falling to 10 so far so good they’re three and0 and one of the two losses that I identified that was acceptable was Indiana because they were playing him twice they’ve already gotten one of the wins out of the way so

They’re now at a point where if say they split um Indiana and Milwaukee you know the two the only two I think acceptably losable games as far as this road trip coming up they’ll finish the thing eight- one and and that would be ahead of my projection recommendation and

Really good work but then started taking a look at some of these other schedules around the league in terms of the teams that they need to drop first we go to Phoenix their remaining schedule hardest according to tank ofon nearly 61% winning percentage among opponents at

The Spurs that I believe is tonight than at Denver at OKC at New Orleans hosting Cleveland hosting Timberwolves hosting Pelicans hosting Clippers Clippers Kings Minnesota that kiddos is brutal that is a I I’m rooting against Phoenix and I feel bad for him that is horrible it’s just it’s really funny how how these

Things work um like it it’s it’s not done like everybody’s got their kind of their own thing everybody’s going to have their you know the these last few games like you know we talked about the Pelicans are they going to be doing what are the Warriors going to be doing are

The Warriors going to be you know they are fading fast you know they seem to be limiting Steph Curry’s minutes on Sunday in ways that didn’t make a lot of sense um particularly to Steph Curry and um so you kind of just sort of wonder what’s going on there like will the Cavaliers

Have Donovan Mitchell in the lineup when the Lakers play them and this sort of thing is happening with every game across the league all of a sudden all of these teeny tiny little things that nobody paid attention to in game 41 are the types of things that you know now

That everybody is focused on every game and the Western Conference by the way the Lakers have a better record now than they did last year um and you know where they finished seventh and now they’re barely hanging on because the rest of the West is as we predicted it would at

The beginning of the year not cooperating like it did last year like last year was the the the I feel like the the great miracle of last season wasn’t the run to the Western Conference Finals it was that the Western Conference allowed the Lakers to finish

In a position where they only had to win one game to get into the main draw as opposed to just missing the whole thing entirely yeah and you know LeBron talked about after um Sunday’s win over Indiana that it’s very unusual for a West Coast

Team to go on an East Coast road trip this late in the season or vice versa if you’re East Coast team going on West Coast like he said in his time in the NBA that is very unusual to happen this late in the season so that’s an adjustment that he was talking about

Moving on to Sacramento who by the way has the third toughest schedule according to tanon nearly 56% winning percentage among opponents hosting Philadelphia uh hosting Dallas second end of a back-to-back then another game hosting Dallas hosting Utah hosting the Clippers at the Knicks at Boston at Brooklyn at OKC hosting the Pelicans

Hosting the Suns hosting the Blazers and then you go to Dallas who has the 20th uh most difficult schedule according to tank ofon hosting or excuse me at Utah at Sacramento the also for them the second end of a back toback both teams in this Dallas Sacramento game second

End of a back toback then another game at Sacramento at Houston at Golden State hosting Atlanta hosting the Warriors hosting the rockets at Charlotte at Miami hosting Detroit at Oklahoma City so it’s tough man I mean particularly with Sacramento and Phoenix the Lakers needing them to lose games is not out of

The question given who they’re playing and thankfully for the Lakers there is not a ton of these guys playing each other down the stretch where everything just starts canceling out everything ultimately what I’ve decided is if you’re a Laker fan root for Sacramento to win as much as possible because a

They will be beating down hopefully if the timing works out both Dallas and especially Phoenix who the Lakers have the tiebreaker over but also if we’re being honest Sacramento is the team that I want to see the least in a single elimination setting it certainly hasn’t

Been good to this point this year the Lakers have not performed well I me here the the the most crystal clear thing is root against the Suns every night because the Lakers the biggest difference between the the Mavericks I look I would take Sacramento if it meant

The Lakers could somehow get an extra home game then fine give me Sacramento or if they could only have to if they could get up to the eight so you only have to win once give me Sacramento to get the opportunity but like you know but the reality is it if Dallas and

Sacramento are both kind of eh the Lakers probably are going to catch either one of them because they don’t have a tiebreaker on either team the one team that you know the Lakers can just need to catch don’t need to pass is Phoenix so root for the Suns to lose

Every game and in that final 10 you may not have to root that hard that is the that is the opening for the Lakers to go from nine to eight is to hope that the final season stretch for the Suns is really uh plays out as brutally as the

Schedule says it could because Phoenix could play pretty decent basketball and still be around 500 yeah just because of their opponents sure but again I would want Sacramento to be as far from the Lakers as possible even LeBron has acknowledged the Kings have had their number sabonis the ad match up forget

Just that he’s 0 and 10 head-to-head lifetime against sabonis in the ad or I just looked this up in the ad era since sabonis joined the Kings the Lakers have beaten the Kings once and it was in a game that ad didn’t play in Thomas Bryant started in that that’s probably

Not good I’m just saying it really speaks to this matchup not working for ad and the Lakers are one and two against Dallas this this season but they lost by a combined Five Points like they’ve actually played Dallas really well this year so you know I wouldn’t underestimate Dallas but I would much

Rather avoid the Kings over Dallas or Phoenix it’s just a it’s just a bad matchup for the league yeah all right well we’ll start with tonight we’ll see what happens to the Lakers without LeBron uh see what they can do to kick off this road trip lock on Lakers on

YouTube is of course where you can go to hang out with over 23,000 subscribers leave questions leave comments we check them every day try to respond to things as much as we can uh we will be back after the game of course and we will see everyone tomorrow

The Lakers kick off a six game road trip tonight in Milwaukee. Normally this sort of thing would be looked on with some bit of dread, especially given that the Lakers have been a horrible road team all season.

And certainly Monday’s game against the Bucks will be a major challenge, especially in light of LeBron James being downgraded to doubtful ahead of the contest thanks to the same ankle that’s kept him on the injury report all year. Hopefully he/the Lakers are just picking one day for LBJ to rest in the space of a back to back… but there’s really know way to know until Wednesday when the Lakers arrive in Memphis. But as for this one, yes, the Lakers beat the Bucks recently, but Milwaukee has played better of late, and is unquestionably a contender in the East. This would be a losable game with or without James.

But hey, maybe the Lakers surprise shorthanded. Wouldn’t be the first time, this season.

And moreover, once THIS game is done, the Lakers get some real opportunities. Wednesday vs. a terrible Memphis squad. Then an Indiana team they just beat, and the Nets, Raptors and Wizards. 4-2 is the bare minimum that is acceptable for a trip like this one.

And it’s important, because the Phoenix Suns have a very difficult path ahead of them (made even more difficult when they lost to the freakin’ Spurs on Monday, after this show was recorded). A solid late run to end the year from LA (think 9-2, 8-3) could be enough to move them to the 7 spot, because Phoenix plays 10 straight games against Western Conference playoff teams. But the Lakers have to do their part, and even then it still won’t be easy.

Plus… more on Spencer Dinwiddie, and how his recent surge could impact the team going forward, including different lineup combinations. Why has Cam Reddish been finishing games over Rui Hachimura? And what, exactly, did scurvy do to the human body?

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers will face Milwaukee (almost surely) without LeBron.

SEGMENT 2: Things are tightening a little around the Suns. Plus, a small defensive bright spot?

SEGMENT 3: Cam over Rui, more Reddish, more schedule.

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