Lakers/Nets Postgame, J.Worthy, LeBron, AD, D-Lo, Vincent, Coach Ham Reactions | March 31, 2024

Lakers/Nets Postgame, J.Worthy, LeBron, AD, D-Lo, Vincent, Coach Ham Reactions | March 31, 2024

This is a treat we always appreciate it when he can uh spend a little time with us LeBron James joins us now and LeBron you know I always like to throw some fun stats at you so your 40-point game was the 77th time oh there’s they are

There’s they are we got you back because you did that to uh there we go let him hug it out yes sir all yes sir sir there he is all right LeBron I got you your 77th career 40-point game that ties you with the Big O I know you’re

Such a historian of this game the love and respect you have for all of those that came before you how fun is it still in your 21st year to hear those kind of Milestones um you know I love this game and uh you know I try to put everything

Into the game and uh you know with that it gives back to me so you know anytime I’m linked with the greats and obviously um big old was a big inspiration for me growing up and you know reading about his history reading about his play when

He played the game of basketball at this high level as well so you know it’s pretty cool when I’m linked with some of the uh alltime great and uh you know it’s pretty you it’s awesome LeBron you’ve had so many vintage performances in your career this was another one the

Fans absolutely loving it uh this was the best three-point percentage by a Laker ever with a minimum 10 attempts you were nine for 10 I I especially appreciated the one over Claxton in the corner and I appreciate ad over your [Applause] shoulder oh no it was uh you know I was feeling

Pry pretty good today obviously you know shooting the ball from the perimeter and I just try to you know continue to put my game um at at a point where I have no weaknesses out on the floor especially offensively so you know tonight I had it going you know from the from the

Three-point line and uh I was able to make a few for sure especially in that fourth quarter when uh when the net started to make a run Bron it’s D fish man congrats on the win just a quick question I know you battled obviously keeping yourself healthy with the ankle

And just at this point in your career not just physically but what type of mental challenges this season particularly have you faced and how have you kept yourself in a place where the team could be going in the right direction into the postseason yeah I mean that’s the most

Important obviously um you know health is wealth um but you know mental health is even more important than the physical so you know been just trying to you know stay even kill throughout this whole season it’s been a long season it feels like it feels like it’s been like three

Or four seasons wrapped in one obviously we had the n Season tournament everything welcome back welcome back GV um you know so you know it’s um you know just keeping my keeping my mental as fresh as possible like I said staying even kill no matter how the season was

Going if we had ups we had downs we stay right in the middle for me mentally and uh you know I think once the head stays strong then everything else kind of Falls in place so you know with that I’m you know just stand stand mentally uh

Prepared stand in in tune with what needs to be done on each and every day and then giving it all on the floor LeBron uh in addition to health what’s most important to you guys you know going forward and does it matter where you land if as far as

Standards are concerned is it how are you plan more important or where you land in the standards no I think we’re the way how we how we’re playing you know um you know you want to try to you know be be playing at a high level going into the

Postseason no matter where you land you want to feel good about you know um your your team you want to feel in a really good Rhythm and uh and also you want to be healthy so you know it was great to have gay back on the floor tonight he

Gave us some good minutes and uh you know obviously he’s on minutes restriction but we want to continue to get healthy you know hopefully we can get Bando back uh soon you know and um you know we go from there so you know I think it’s the most important is how how

We’re playing you know uh we we’ll see where the chips fall where they may and then uh we we take that course LeBron we always appreciate you stopping by happy Easter happy Easter to you guys man love appreciate it all right that’s LeBron James uh 77th career 40-point game which

Is seventh all time puts him in a tie with the Big O you see some names on their big game and we know he’s such a historian of the game and uh pretty incredible list as he just continues it seems like nightly to join some new list came back against Memphis shot

13 and we talked about talked about that we talked about because he hadn’t really been on the court for a few days he was smart enough to recognize I’m not going to launch 10 threes in a game where I know my rhythm for shooting isn’t there it’s a master class Converse that to

Tonight where he’s been able to practice a couple days or at least get his individual Rhythm back and then come out and shoot the ball the way he did tonight so just the recognition to understand himself and and what the team needs and to go out and play this type

Of game tonight is impressive as opposed to like a fifth year player who might come out and shoot 10 threes just to figure get it’s experience man it’s experience yeah crazy crazy to big game I mean that could have gotten a lot closer LeBron had 17 in the fourth I

Mean cam Thomas was heating up Lakers were kind of already thinking about getting on the Road I mean LeBron still has that ability to close a team out and put a team on his back when he knows it’s needed tonight it was with threes yeah no that’s the best part I mean of

Course you want the Lakers to blow him out by 45 um but that doesn’t necessarily do anything for helping the team get better you know big game you’re coming off the OT game in in uh Milwaukee and then you have to back it up the next night um with a win in

Memphis and then you have that tough one in in Indiana I think that was expected how important was it for them to come out like they did in this game that was a 17-0 lead they built up a 21-point lead and from there they’re in control obviously they knew how critical this

Game was after can swing you absolutely after getting you know two games um you know against Milwaukee and go you know and then lose to Indiana getting the Memphis win they knew how critical it was to expand this road trip and get the record that they’re looking for looking

Not really a great team they they knew they could beat him my opinion yeah you know this team has been up and down all season for various reasons but they’ve shown when either a team in a single game situation or during a short period of time when something has their

Attention or or they set their minds to accomplishing or achieving something they’ve shown the ability to rise to that occasion so when when you start to think back over the last month or so win a game lose a game but we’ve always felt pretty solid about the way they were

Playing even though they didn’t always win the games to to me this game was indicative of like they have another gear that they can go to you know big game this starting group botom mine gets buckets I mean every single night you look at that and there’s three guys with

20 or more and it’s always a different third guy one night it’s going to be DLo a lot of times it’s gonna be dowlo it could also be ar it could be ruy um I think that’s what’s so impressive about this team you saw Gabe Vincent come back

Tonight a big game get 14 minutes obviously there’s going to be some Rust he’s only played in five games this year at surgery back in early January you know you start to think about man if you can get v as well maybe you start to get

That depth now you can start to believe that you can see a path for this team maybe I mean yes for sure LeBron said if you’re playing good basketball you see a path I mean you you know you heard what LeBron said you know he’s really concerned about how they’re playing

Where their land is going to be wherever they land uh but you know getting those two players back in particular Gater uh vanderbelt and now we have gay back two critical guys on the defensive end especially vanderbelt gives you so many different uh more extra possessions

Steals Guy deflex guys uh you look at tonight’s game every player uh in double figures and plus minus they pretty active but the bench only two points but that’s something that going forward they’ll need to take a look at uh but because bench production is critical but with that starting lineup that starting

Lineup is solid as they come I think with with you know there’s two things that this team really does well and consistently it’s get to the free throw line and score points in the paint and those are two things that regardless of where they land and the standings like LeBron if

They’re healthy and playing well and they’re doing those two things consistently yes they will have to make threes there’s no question about that you have to make threes in order to win in this league now but that’s what in a one game situation shooting free throws

And scoring at The Rim will help you win a single game scoring points at the rim and getting to the free throw line will help you win a seven game series so they have the recipe or or the the team that’s capable of doing it um it’s just

Getting there and being healthy so they can have a chance to play at their best all right let’s hear from Darin ham he’s speaking with Mike trell in the media you don’t see a ton of standing ovations right for a road player what did you make a LeBron ton night it’s incredible

I you know told him in a huddle before his last little stretch and we ultimately subed him out uh just extremely thankful that he packed the cape on the road trip needed all nine of those threes kind of dropped the Rope terms of what we were doing that that

Established the lead and came on the third quarter turn the ball over way too much uh but that said you know you have to just overcome this thing and you don’t have time to complain and and moan about what’s the negative that’s happening to you in the moment you just

Got got to keep fighting keep scratching and try to figure it out to correct correct the situation that you’re in and we were able to do that by some huge shot making by him uh our guards did a great job defensive rebounding a did a great job as always defensive rebounding

Ruy um and you know Braun caught fire and and and just carried us home you mentioned the turnovers I think it was 10 in the third quarter after five in the first half you know trying to integrate another guard into things some different lineups was that any part to

Do with it or was there just I just obviously have to go back look at the tape but I thought a lot of guys turned down some some looks and when you do that you know you put yourself up against the a ball because now the

Rhythm is off you know we whether we’re posting the ball up playing out a pick and roll or driving the ball once the ball is swung That Swing Swing you either got to shoot it or drive it to score um you I felt like we just whether

The guys the ball didn’t feel right when they hit certain guys’ hand hands I don’t know what the case was again we’ll go back and look at it but um you know we we we we didn’t shoot in Rhythm uh didn’t feel like we were shot ready on a

Couple of those possessions and and a couple other ones we just mishandled the ball and so um you know it’s just great the win in spite all those hiccups but you know we got to tighten it up because you know in this journey to the playoffs

You know we got to be able to put together consistent productive possessions uh on both sides of the ball and offensively we can’t you know allow the teams to get life just based off our mistakes we got to force them to work in order to score and be successful against our

Defense this is the third time that Ruiz had a double double with rebounds in the past four games we’ve talked about this about him just how much do you guys have to consistently remind him I think last game he didn’t have a single rebound and now he comes back and bounces back with

I think 10 tonight yeah it’s something that we constantly challenge him on um tonight you know was a little bit different with no Jackson out there so he had to play some minutes at the five and you know he he was determined to go out there not just try to you know get

In position for the ball to come to him but to go snatch some rebounds he did a great job just going to get the ball uh but that’s a part of his game that I think you know he’s working to get better at and and and and working to be

Consistent at and so um he uh he he was great tonight on the glass for sure Darin two two for you um what did you think of Gabe tonight what do you he was able to give you um how did he look I thought for a guy that’s been out that

Long he came in had some big possessions um defensively he was trying to get after it um offensively that time is going to come you know he’ll see his shot go in uh but I think just just him getting thrown out there he had the only bucket off our bench ironically uh but

You know he’ll get there it’s going to take a little bit of time uh but what I saw you know is a guy trying to get his rhythm in right area like when you come back from that long of a layoff you know the tendency is you just how the ball

Feels how the climate feels in terms of the torque the force in which you know you out there on the court with nine other guys playing at a very high level uh you got to figure out that the little things is are what is going to get you

Back in Rhythm and he he did that he started on the defensive end to find his rhythm and had some tough matchups that he had to switch off on with Cam Thomas and miles and tennis and so I’m I’m I was encouraged by his pop and uh his

Speed his energy and it’ll just continue to get better we’ll see how he feels once he wakes up in the morning um pregame Jared went through a pretty extensive on court work um I saw you out there watching it um how encouraged are you with his progress and where he’s at

And um is there what what’s kind of next for him uh just not to skip any steps just to keep taking things day by day and and don’t listen to whoever’s out there putting Target dates on his return just just maximize each day try to get

Better each day and just just stick to the plan Gabe had to do the same thing J uh JV has to do the same thing as well just stick to the plan we can’t expect nine for 10 type performances for LeBron every night from three but there has been e e e

Sit there and see what the formula is and what’s working and come out you know once they step on the floor they enter the game you got to be ready to hit the ground run and doing exactly what you just saw your teammates do to establish

The lead and so uh and and and at the bottom line the bottom line just play with confidence don’t second guess yourself you know just play with confidence don’t think you’re taking shots away from this person or this person you’re open shootter there’s a lane driveing when someone steps in the

Way be ready to pass it is as simple as that just believeing in the process of playing the right way on offensive lend uh consistently that’s it thanks Coach jel real quick so you know you’ve made a living in this building for years you’re a fan favorite people love you here what’s so special about coming back to this building and taking the court and Performing for everyone in the audience uh it’s cool it’s real cool um it’s one

Of the few places that appreciates me um you know cheers for me you know a lot of places I go I get booed so it’s just a new new feeling uh so I always Embrace I always Embrace that and you don’t let the booze like deter you at all

Obviously you couldn’t care less nope good cool I’mma get my uh let me get my Brands off since y’all don’t got no questions shout out to the boy man 10,000 points for the boy since nobody knows it’s all right shout out to the brand where can we find that where

Where can you find it yeah shoot ww.com yall tun in you got question on my phone hey you’re still the uh alltime leading three-point uh shooter in Nets history uh for season I think it’s 224 uh so how do how do you feel about that still holding that record here and

Man it’s a blessing for sure um to have that in multiple different franchises um it’s always a blessing to get recognized for individual accolades for sure um I know I put the work in so I mean it’s it’s just something I really appreciate it’s not something I look

Forward to to to to to doing going into the season it’s not something I I was focused on or anything like that I just played and this was the result so um I’m beyond blessed for sure and one more speaking of three Porters when LeBron

Has a game like that nine of 10 you know is it possible for him to do anything that shocks you on the basketball court me no I played with him I’ve seen it um I’ve been watching for a long time now I’m alongside um it’s hard to be impressed

Um it almost just looks normal at this point so for him continuing to keep inspiring the youth and and keeping the gas on the on the pad LeBron it’s not too often that you get the sing Ovation in a road Arena I know it’s happened before uh when you’re

Feeling that kind of energy the the shots are falling how does that kind of all work together for you on a court um I mean obviously it’s a it’s a really good feeling when you have it going and uh and you’re winning you know that’s the most important for me but um

You know the appreciation for the fans here you know I just Tred to give them the game back and you know uh it was you know very well received and uh I just try to reciprocate that by going on playing the game that I love to play at

A high level you’ve talked before about that spur series earlier in your career and about kind of continuing to develop the outside shot and obviously been working on it for many years but think your nine percentage points up from last year um 41 and a half this year on a

High volume what is there anything at all specific or different that you you did to kind of find this Rhythm this season from three um I’ve been able to be on the floor a lot more during during n game days um my footage felt a lot

Better um I didn’t have much time to like really rep a lot last year because I had to make sure that I could be on the floor running around or putting you know much um you know pounding on the on the on the on the floor with my foot so

I’ve had a lot of opportunity to like get on the floor and probably see me before every game out on the floor working on my game working on my craft um so that that’s helped out a lot too and uh just try to stay consistent with

My shot um you know same shot every time and um and also just work just work work work work work did you feel momentum shifting um there in the fourth when they cut it to eight and and um yeah how quickly did you feel it

Sh I mean obviously the long ball in our game is definitely a momentum shifter you know so um you know obviously cam got it going and um he a couple threes and cut it to I think 11 before they was eight they got the eight at the end of the

Third thir 11 of the third then they got the eight early in the fourth so um just trying to make my Marks here if I can get it going to you got to be able to score in this league as well you know you got to be able to stop but you got

To keep scoring too and uh I was um I was able to I was able to get a hot streak you always had aame triple threat it was there a stage of your career when you can recall where the three-point shot became more important

For you to to add or to lean on uh well I don’t never have to lean on it um cuz I can I can do so much I can score at any level on the floor you know basically once I cross half court um you

Know I can score in the post I could score off pick and rolls I could score off the ball off cutting or you know you know being a recipient of my teammates making a play for me um but you know being able to have a growth mindset and

Be able to work on things that the league is changing to you know um the league is a heavy three-point shooting league I’m not a you know one of those guys that want to go out there and shoot you know 12 14 15 threes a game but um I

Want to be respected and and teams have to play me from the outside I know that’s still kind of one thing that um you know teams still want to be like okay if we had to give up something we much rather shoot the ball from the outside but you know shooting the long

Ball and also making my free throws that’s uh has been very important for me this season and the last few seasons honestly what you make good gave in his return uh first of all I just told him happy to have you back man uh congrats

And happy to have you back out there and you know obviously it’s going you know first action in so many months you know the legs and your lungs is going to be the first thing to go um but I thought he was great in the minutes that he um

The minutes that he was out there it was great to have him back the second second game that cam Thomas has had a big scoring night on you guys just curious of your opinions of him as an emerging young scorer in this league uh he does that to

Everybody how long last question how long do you expect to continue playing in the NBA Lebron Nine out of 10 at your age and with your accomplishments is still like a hit burer for a lot of people yeah uh not very long not very long um I’m going

Side obviously at the heill so I’m not going to play another 21 years that’s for damn sure but uh not very long um I don’t know what uh when that door was closed as far as my when I retire but I don’t have much time left thanks

Y 24 and 14 for ad in the win he’s standing by with Mike Mr C Mr well before the three-point barrage from LeBron you know you guys came out with a 1 15 run um had them what maybe 11 points in the first quarter ruy and LeBron helping you on the glass just

What how did you guys come out that Focus defensively and kind of start to get some of that identity back uh just bouncing back for my game against Indiana uh we didn’t play really good defensively um and obiously we know this is a team who got a lot of offensive

Threats and we just want to come out and set the tone defensively um and we did that in the first quarter a little rout of LeBron to hit that many threes when you’ve been hitting more threes lately to just drown out your your makes like

That man he n for 10 um and then the ones that he was shooting wasn’t hitting the rim uh it’s always great to watch I mean you know most points in NBA history you know and he just Contin to add to it but the way he’s um the way he shot it tonight

Uh masterful what kind of threat have you seen that part of this game been since you guys have been teammates just as it as Longo yeah it was becoming a three l SC um you know when he shoot the ball like that I think he’s over 40% 42%

After tonight he probably like 43 44 but you know it you know obviously guys know he’s a a powerful driver um and you can’t now can’t go under his threes you know his screens cuz he’ll shoot him so uh he’ll make him so uh you know he’s

Been since I’ve been here he’s been constantly in the gym working on you know his shot and uh it’s showing over now it’s know even tougher to guard him you his return We solid and you know um you know obviously it’s a you know a fi

Thing Rhythm thing to get back out there but he L he looked really really well um both things on the floor to me um we had some Mis cues uh I know I did you know with them um but that’s just coming back with you know being part of the team and

You know uh game rep so but overall I think he look really solid you L yeah yeah he told me he was he was going to throw it earlier uh so he told me just you know his timeing you know get his timeing back so

As great as LeBron is I mean when he do stuff like this does it still come as a surprise at all or there nothing surprise with him just what’s it like being on the court with him when he’s doing this yeah I mean uh I’ve never

Been on the court when he made n for 10 for three so um still surprised like I said the way he was shooting them um the run out in the left corner or front on their side of the floor um I mean he’s one torn into it he’s hopping into it

He’s fading I mean he was just doing everything tonight from the three-point line so uh the only one he didn’t do was the one the one leg Runner that he usually shoots um but yeah man like I said it was it was masterful just to sit here and you know watch

That um he he got us you know he got a separation again how much is ruy gu picking things up defensively rebounding how much does that help you guys how much uh it helps us a lot I mean um Ry his job is to rebound the

Ball as well so um you know he’s just doing what we asked him to do um you know he’s going to play forish 3ish uh you know he has to help us rebound the ball and um you know we we always on real we know how good he is

And how good he can be and you know we just try to um get him involved on off defensive end and uh we put him on tough match up defensively and uh within that you know we can switch a lot and then now he’s on bigs where he has to rebound

The basketball so um you know when he’s rebounding the basketball I think he had Double Double T night he had 10 um it’s just gives us uh more times to you know get out and run and transition because he’s able to you know get it off the

Glass and push and was two 80 defensively um only 11 points in the first quarter 25 only in the fourth for them what did you like about where you guys were at and obviously that start yeah I mean we tried to come out and set the

Tone defensively um know we let him back into in the third and even a little bit in the second think hit a 33 Point second quarter if I’m not mistaken yeah 33 33 in the second so um you know we want to be better in those

Two quarters to end the half and the start the half but um for the most part I think we did a really good job defensively and um thank you you know just trying to set the tone knowing that uh more than likely when we’re not clicking offensively defense going to

Win us this game win us games last Indy was one of those tough games schedule wise just third game four nights Etc now you’re about to have it’ll be three and four with Toronto and Washington on a back toback how do you guys kind of muster that energy and this final push

As you as you head back got to find a way uh you know we’re trying to um constantly just climbing a standing but uh win basketball games and the schedule is the schedu is nothing we can do about it you know we got to make sure that we

You know get our rest and and you know get prepared for two other teams who in the same position but got good players that can play so um I mean we was in a close one against Washington at home so um and Toronto you know you know

So know we can’t obviously the team is a little different Toronto but we got to um come in with the with the same approach of starting off fast defensively and um getting stops but also learning from tonight where we got to come out in the halves better especially the second quarter and uh

Start the half better um second half to uh maintain our leads and um you know do what we got to do and now our starters and some of our uh role players can get some rest and uh you know let our our our young guys play all right Gabe first minutes since

The the one game in Chicago in December and it’s been a long road back uh just can you take us through that process and how you felt and how it got to the point where you were able to play and then how it felt on the floor yeah I mean

Obviously it got to a point where you know I couldn’t compete at the level I needed to to help this team win games and um we decided to go on have surgery long road to recovery and we’re here now how did it feel on the court today it

Felt good felt good to go out there have a sweat compete a little bit uh get a little stat sheet going tiny bit here and there uh but it felt good to go out there run around we’re talking to LeBron you said just first thing just glad to

Have you back on the court of course it’s going to take some time to get to NBA game speed and and you haven’t played a lot with these guys but what are the things that you’re focusing on the most with what your skill set is and having watched this team all year and

Saying okay this is where they need me just filling in the gaps that’s all just filling in the gaps go out there compete defensively when I can on the perimeter uh battle for board if it comes my way if not get the other guy out the way I’m

Just doing all little things okay what did you think of LeBron tonight he was LeBron man you know we needed him down the stretch and and he picked up the slack and uh made some big shots for us there was a time in in his career where

I think it might even still be true where it’s like the three-point shot was like that’s the poison you pick uh this year you’ve seen him become a real weapon for this what that say just about the work that he puts in that year 21

He’s adding I mean to even be able to compete in year 21 as a testament to the work he puts in um you know a lot of guys don’t even get that many years in their bodies can’t even do it um so it’s a testament his commitment his work his

Diligence on on himself on his growth on his game and to come out and and to lead us every night the way he does to still be a top player around the league you know LeBron is LeBron and kind of in a lane of his own obiously did everything could to get

Ready to be at this point and then kind of minutes this stuff’s going to be determined by the coaching staff as we look forward the rest of this trip it’s back to back have you had any discussions about how that could be managed for you in your knee um I’m

Going to let them take care of it you know I got got faith in the training staff and the coaches staff and um you know they have faith in me to put me in there for whatever minutes they do and hope I continue to build trust in these

Guys in this locker room and we continue to make our push you know they’ve the Lakers have missed some point of attack defense just somebody that can get through screens and obviously you’re able to do that did some of that tonight where where is the focus on that like

Kind of how important is that to your game and where do you think that helps the team I hate when the other team scores simply so whether it’s me getting a stop or me on the bench chair my guys on to get a stop I I hate when they

Score so um if I’m on the court I’m going to do whatever I can to keep them from scoring do a quick little round on Gabe love what he’s talking about when it comes to the defense hates when guys score big game Fish brez what do you

Guys want to see here in these last couple weeks and and and how long will it take to kind of get back into that full playing shape and and confident again I want to see him take his time gradually game by game practice by practice you know take these next 10

Days or so are the games that he has left does just kind of gradually make sure that he gets some s back slowly so he’ll be ready uh when the playoffs come get some minutes on his belt you know get some shots uh get some game time

Experience you know get you know get used to being back out there with the guys again that’s what I want to see I don’t want to see him try to come back too quickly uh but you know I want to see him ready when the playoffs start

Yeah and I think they’re you know they’re going to monitor monitor his minutes uh I think you know minute restriction is smart uh just so that you don’t put too much uh work on that knee you know first coming back but as long as he continues to focus on some of the

More intangible areas then I think we’ll see you know hopefully during the postseason you’ll see some of the offensive talent that Gabe actually does have and this guy can score the ball but right now defense little things deflections 50/50 balls maybe make a timely basket here or there

Pass but once you get into the postseason they start the game plan and they say okay we’re putting two on ad we’re in rotation we’re leaving gate Vincent more open that’s the time that his legs will be there he’ll be a to make him pay the official you nailed it

He was so good in the playoffs last year for Miami helped the Heat beat Boston helped him beat Milwaukee it was all offense for Gabe you know now now they want him more in a defensive posture and Darin said he liked what he saw and and frankly he played more minutes than I

Thought 14 minutes that’s probably double what I figured he would play Darin found a way to get him in uh maybe he doesn’t have luxury against a good team in a tight game but hey I I thought it was good today and the offense will

Come based on what he did a year ago in the playoffs

❗ Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEjOSbbaOfgnfRODEEMYlCw/join
✅ Sub And Like For More Content
🏪 FreeDawkins Merch Store – https://freedawkins-merch-store.creator-spring.com/
📌 Follow on Twitter – https://twitter.com/DawkinsMTA
📌 IG – https://www.instagram.com/dawkinsofficial/
✅ Subscribe To My SQUADawkins NBA Videos Channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/squadawkins