00:00So also yesterday, when I did the show yesterday, the Hawks were big favorites, or not big, but significant favorites.
00:06Anything more than two or three is somewhat significant over the Lakers.
00:09I found that odd because I thought, OK, well, that must mean somebody's not playing for L.A.
00:14Well, lo and behold, both the big guys played for L.A., Carlin, and they end up taking care of business against the Hawks.
00:20And so I guess the bigger question that I would have for you is with LeBron playing and with Luka playing both in this game.
00:26And we know that load management is a thing in the NBA.
00:29Do you get the sense here that maybe L.A. feeling some pressure and saying to themselves, hey, look, these plans to sit guys, we may need to scrap that or we're going to fall too far behind?
00:39Because I know J.J. Redick has been not too shy about disclosing some of the issues that the team has had this season.
00:47He has been an entertaining coach.
00:49I don't know if everyone has been in tune to all his press conferences, but if you want to hear the truth about the L.A. Lakers, you don't have to go any further than J.J. Redick.
00:56He's been giving you the real, which is not what most head coaches do.
01:00But to answer your question about these two players and LeBron and Luka, they really haven't played that much together, right?
01:05Like the trade happened and everybody lost their minds.
01:08It hasn't even been a calendar year since that happened.
01:10And when it did happen, LeBron wasn't in the lineup.
01:13Then he eventually came back.
01:14They got bounced early.
01:15And now they're kind of going through the regular season together.
01:18And LeBron didn't start the season.
01:20Luka was out of the lineup as well.
01:22They're still trying to figure out how to play basketball with each other.
01:25And you're starting to see that a little bit.
01:27And hopefully they can start to gel.
01:29The one thing that I would say about the Lakers, right?
01:31Like if you're looking long term for this basketball team, they are a great offensive team.
01:37They're going to have great offensive nights like last night where they can score, you know, 141 points because they have two of the best players, two of the top 10 players in the game.
01:45But then they have nights where they're going to give up 120.
01:48And, you know, it's not a situation in the NBA right now where you can outscore your opponent and be a contender in the NBA.
01:56We'll get it done in the regular season.
01:57But once you get to the playoffs and you go up against better defenses, you're going to have to find a way to stop some of these better offenses.
02:02And right now the Lakers desperately need someone that actually cares about defense.
02:08And while Marcus Smart is that guy, should be that guy, he's not Marcus Smart anymore.
02:13He is the artist formerly known as Marcus Smart.
02:15And DeAndre Ayton, you know, he is not a great defender and it hasn't been throughout his entire career.
02:20So if you're a Laker fan, what you're looking for is a trade at the deadline to figure out how to get more players that are going to care about defense.
02:28Because your two best players in LeBron and Luka Doncic, I want to say they care about it, but, you know, the signs out there don't seem to show that they do.
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