00:00But the Lakers, oh, brutal last night.
00:03Here's LeBron James.
00:05Mishandled the ball out top but didn't panic.
00:08James has it ripped away.
00:11Shepard on the steal and the flush.
00:13He feels like obviously the Rockets are the better team.
00:17What's the best way to respond to a group that obviously has confidence growing over there?
00:21I don't care about like that, bro.
00:24The game is one in between the four lines.
00:26I don't give a damn.
00:27Who cares?
00:27I mean, of course you say it.
00:29Why would you say it?
00:30Don't bring out the better team.
00:31But I don't ask one of them young guys that question.
00:35I'm too old for that shit.
00:37Yeah, none of that is good.
00:39Starting with the actual game results.
00:41And we spent a lot of time yesterday on Shine Time talking about, okay, Lakers need to win.
00:47Lakers will win.
00:50Lakers players, J.J. Reddick saying all the right things in terms of we want to kill them.
00:55We want to win the game, needs to end.
00:57Austin Reeves played.
00:59And the fact that the Lakers lost this game, how they lost this game, to me is damning.
01:07And it was stunning.
01:07And it was surprising.
01:09And honestly, everything feels like it's kind of on the brink here.
01:12And if the Lakers lose this series, I mean, brutal.
01:17This sequence by Shepard was kind of everything, right?
01:21And Reed Shepard represented the baby Rockets, you know, making plays.
01:25And he hit that mid-range J.
01:27And I thought that was incredible.
01:29And Shepard needs to play more.
01:30And then this, he picked the King's pocket and went in for a monster jam.
01:36And then had the ability to ultimately, at the end of the day, turn that lead into a seven
01:42points.
01:42Look, I really think that when you look at what transpired, this was a slop fest from Los
01:50Angeles, 15 turnovers, no energy.
01:53I'm watching the game last night.
01:55Our guy Ryan Rucco on the call for ESPN.
01:57And you can kind of tell early, I was wrong.
02:01You can tell early, the Lakers were as flat as a pancake and completely unacceptable.
02:09When you look at how the Rockets played with their youth and their energy, and they had
02:14precise passing and ball movement and moving without the ball, it was terrific.
02:19Shepard was awesome last night.
02:21Smith was phenomenal last night.
02:23Thompson, Eason, Sangoon, they had it going on.
02:26The way that this team played and moved the ball, played with poise and confidence and
02:31purpose last night without Kevin Durant, it was inspiring.
02:36I couldn't get enough.
02:38It was tremendous from a Houston perspective.
02:41If you're a fan of the L.A. Lakers, I mean, I become a human emoji in terms of shrugging
02:49my
02:49shoulders because I feel like, and this is in theory, when you do what I do for a living,
02:55it's the worst possible thing you could ever say.
02:59But it's how I feel.
03:00I don't know.
03:01And if you listen to LeBron James, and I watch the game and then watch all the post-game
03:06news conference because I'm a sick freak like that, there is a legit, I don't know, shrug
03:12your shoulders kind of feel right now to the Lakers.
03:15And to be up 3-0 in this series and to lose consecutive games and now have the entire momentum
03:23shift
03:24to Houston and it was not an accident, brilliant reporting from our friend Shams Sharania over
03:30at ESPN this morning, they have already ruled out Kevin Durant, which means combination of
03:36either Shams picked up the phone and was able to unearth that information or the Rockets made
03:42a point to leak that to Shams today.
03:45Why?
03:46Because they won without KD and they're currently better than KD.
03:50And this is where, and NBA playoffs are fun and funky like this in a great way, it's
03:55great entertainment, where it doesn't matter what happened in the regular season, it doesn't
03:59matter what you predicted before a series, it almost doesn't even matter what happened
04:03at the beginning of a series.
04:05It is so game-to-game and so fluid and it's kind of crazy here.
04:10Look, the Lakers losing this series, right, if we started talking about this before it started
04:15and I picked Houston to win in five, right?
04:17There's no Austin Reeves and there's no Luka Doncic and we expected Houston to win this
04:22series.
04:22Then, out of nowhere, poof, Kevin Durant is hurt and he can't play and he's missing time
04:27and he's missing games.
04:29And if, at the end of the day, Durant was healthy and the Lakers, you know, ultimately
04:35lost this series, no harm, no foul.
04:38But, with no Kevin Durant and Reeves comes back last night and he played well and he
04:47had 22 points and six assists and the Lakers were up and LeBron James was up 3-0 in this
04:55series.
04:55If the Lakers lose up 3-0, unprecedented, uncharted territory, let me tell you something, it is
05:06going to be next level in terms of what an absolute debacle this is going to be.
05:11In fair or unfair, court of public opinion, James is going to get crushed.
05:16Lakers are going to get destroyed.
05:18And, listen, I think, and LeBron even referenced it in that rant, which Frank Lennon cared for
05:24after the game, when he said he was too old for this, it's not really fair if you look
05:31at it to blame LeBron, right?
05:33Because he is 41 years old and even without Doncic and until last night without Reeves,
05:40other guys have to step up around him.
05:42But if LeBron James has a 3-0 lead in the postseason and his team crumbles and they blow
05:50it, LeBron James is going to be destroyed and he will have earned it.
05:54And that's where leadership is a deal.
05:57It just, it is.
05:58That's where J.J.
05:59Reddick comes into play.
06:01Here's the other thing that I think really needs to be discussed here with regards to
06:05LeBron and what has transpired now in this series.
06:08When they were up 3-0, it was a little flukish, right?
06:13First two games were all L.A.
06:15Game three at the end of that fourth quarter, that was a collapse, just an improbable fashion
06:22by Houston.
06:23And then the Lakers were brilliant in overtime.
06:25And, you know, frankly, the Rockets outplayed them throughout the vast majority of game number
06:31three.
06:32Game four, it was all Houston all the time.
06:35Okay, that game's at Houston, they show a little pride, a little moxie, you know, no
06:39Kevin Durant, the young guys are flying around, but you figured last night you win the game.
06:45Reeves is back, you're at home, all the energy, no one wants to get on the plane, go to Houston
06:49for a game six.
06:51The fact that they looked flat as a pancake, uninspired, turning it over left and right,
06:58no help, Marcus Smart was awful, Kennard was awful, that is atrocious.
07:03That is a disaster.
07:04That is a train wreck, which leads to the I don't know quotient.
07:08If you take a look at analytics, if you take a look at the point spread, Houston is favored
07:15to win game six.
07:16Think about that.
07:17And because of no Durant, which normally, in theory, would be a problem, because the
07:23team has played better, better ball movement, better on offense, efficiency, togetherness,
07:28sans KD, we're officially at a stage where all the pressure in the world, it's crazy how
07:35this has evolved over the course of a series.
07:37All the pressure in the world is on Los Angeles.
07:41All the pressure in the world is on LeBron James.
07:44No one's going to say Austin Reeves didn't get it done.
07:48And look, there's a shot LeBron has done with the Lakers anyway.
07:54But if, in fact, the Lakers, and it's crazy, because LeBron was so great after everyone
07:59got hurt at the end, so great in game one, so great in game two, made sure to give him
08:03his flowers.
08:03You know, I think James is the second best player in the history of the NBA.
08:07If they lose this series, LeBron can't come back.
08:11If they lose this series, he's done in Los Angeles.
08:15He won't be allowed in Southern California ever again.
08:19That's how unprecedented, obviously, this would be, up 3-0, if you lose to the baby Rockets
08:25without Kevin Durant.
08:26But that would be it for LeBron as a Laker.
08:30He couldn't go back.
08:32You couldn't show face.
08:33Now, I still think the Lakers will win, but I can't bang the table.
08:40I can't guarantee it.
08:42I mean, I've watched game three, game four, game five.
08:45I wouldn't be doing the audience any kind of service if I said, I love L.A.
08:50I can't do that anymore.
08:51The game to wrap it up, and it was all there, all the motivation, you know, better team,
08:56playing at home, no Durant, Reeves is back, don't want to make the trip, get ready for
09:00OKC, and to not even post, that's dreadful.
09:06I'm surprised by that.
09:07That is stunning.
09:09And fair or unfair, in some way, shape, or form, and that post-game news conference
09:13bugged the hell out of me, this always comes back to LeBron James.
09:17So that was a dud, a disgrace, an embarrassment, and there's now an official, I don't know,
09:25shrug your shoulders emoji for this basketball team, and all the pressure in the world.
09:30It's funny how these things shift, right?
09:33It's all on Los Angeles.
09:35It's all on LeBron.
09:36And I'm struggling here in finding how the Lakers can win.
09:42I'm struggling.
09:43I'm still going to pick them, because I still don't trust Emei Adoka.
09:47I don't think he likes this core in Houston, but clearly they play better when Kevin Durant's
09:52not there.
09:53What a wild turn of events.
09:55My goodness, what a mess for the Lakers last night.
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