May 4, 2021 • 38 mins
On today’s episode, Jason and Producer Rob G share a lengthy conversation following the Los Angeles Lakers much-needed victory over the Denver Nuggets. While most of the sports media world was prepared to bury the Lakers following their latest swoon, Jason is here to remind you all to take a cue from Aaron Rodgers and just ‘Relax’. They’re going to be fine. So long as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are healthy, they should be right back in the NBA Finals. Speaking of LeBron and AD, Rob G says that if the Lakers fall short of expectations this year, it'll be because they overpaid on the Klutch Sports Tax. It's clear that Marc Gasol is the best fit next to Davis, but since the LeBron and AD lobbied to get Andre Drummond to LA, and because Montrezl Harrell is a fellow Klutch Sports client, the politics of sports mandated that both players get playing time over Gasol. Only time will tell if Frank Vogel has the intestinal fortitude to put the best lineup on the floor in the postseason, whether they're affiliated with Klutch Sports or not. Finally, Jason closes the show with a quick thought on the surging New York Knicks. For whatever reason, he's having a hard time getting as excited about his hometown team. Maybe it's because they play a defensive brand of basketball, or maybe it's because he knows they're likely to get smacked out of the playoffs by the Brooklyn Nets.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Straight Fire? Fam, it's your boy, Jason McIntyre. Tuesday, May
fourth of a little muted because so much good news
is covering your way. I just love it. I love
what we're talking about today, folks. I just want to
(00:27):
set the stage for you before I go on a
nice little ram. This is gonna be a fun one, Okay.
So everybody was focused the last week on the NFL Draft.
Obviously your attention was what are the forty Niners doing?
Are they taking trade lance and they taking mac Jones?
The debate raged, and then the Aaron Rodgers news hit,
and Aaron Rodgers was a big story, and everybody kind
(00:49):
of both eyes left the NBA right, And the NBA
takes a hit in March from March Madness, and with
so many stars out, you know, everybody's kind of downshifted
a little bit on the NBA. But then Monday comes
and oh, j did you see what's going on with
the Lakers? All I'm hearing, oh Lebron's a winer, Lakers, stink,
(01:12):
Lakers are one in six, They're the play and it's over.
A D's not even trying the Lakers are in trouble.
They're more likely to go out in the play in
than win the title. Of course, everybody has put the
draft behind them. They're now focused on bashing Lebron and
the Lakers. And you know that quantum leap. Everybody gets
(01:34):
out there jumped to conclusions, Matt and they say, okay,
so Lebron is the shell of himself. He's come back
from injury that the high ankle sprain, he's been very
poor and oh, by the way, he's out out of
the Jordan. You know how the joke goes. The Lakers
are struggling, Let's blame Lebron. Let's blame Lebron for his
(01:54):
quote that the idea of the playing game is stupid
and I'm pair phrasing because I don't have it in
front of me. And he cursed about it, and then
of course everybody wants to call about look what he
said two years ago. And they did this to Luca
don j as well, because that's what people do, the
build up tear down. We've been through this the media
very predictable lot, and of course you know the social
(02:16):
media jabrones who like to go after Lebron. So okay,
we got a big game Monday night, Lakers versus the Nuggets.
Nuggets are hot. I think the Nuggets have gone nine
and one in their last ten. Rob G can check
me on that if you if I'm wrong, And the
Lakers have been sloppy, and the Lakers are tied for
seventh with a couple also rans, and oh my gosh,
(02:41):
panic in l A. And then the game comes and
the Lakers pretty much are cruising until the very end
of the game and went to Denver Nuggets throughout massive
scared to the Lakers, but l A wins. They hold on.
Some big narratives come out of this game, folks, and
they're all positive for the Lakers, all of them. Uh,
I'm not just getting rob G homer ish here. The Lakers.
(03:03):
This is great news because they went into this game
like the Lakers gotta have it, and Denver's very good
and they're hot, and they have the m v P
and we'll get to that um and the Lakers need
this game. But what happened. The Lakers basically turned back
the clock. It was old school Frank Vogel defense. I mean,
it's an ugly game. In the first half. I texted
Bravos like, my gosh, this games unwatchable. It's like thirty
(03:26):
late second quarter. Vogel went and turned up the defense,
a lot of Horton Tucker, a lot of Caruso who
was in the starting lineup that we got pulled late,
and Horton Tucker came in and made two winning plays. Um,
but I think the takeaways here. Let's just remember one thing.
How many times when Lebron was in the East and
(03:48):
the Calves kind of slept walk or the Heat kind
of slept walk through the regular season and then everybody's like, oh,
you know, the Raptors look good. I don't know, got
to be care old is Atlanta Hawks won sixty games,
Lebron sits of trouble, and then he got to the
finals because the regular season is a different animal than
(04:10):
the playoffs in the NBA. You know this, Okay, don't
panic Laker fans. They're fine. They're gonna be okay. They
stud their toe this past week. It's been a rough
ten days. They're working Lebron back in. Anthony Davis is
getting up to speed. They're handling the delicate gasol Drummond
uh dance, which will get too shortly. Kuzma had been
(04:33):
playing a lot of six man. He's now thrust him
the starting line up. There a Shrewder their third best player.
That's a fact, that is an undeniable fact. Dennis Shredder
is the Lakers third best player. He's now out in
COVID protocols. I thought I heard ten to fourteen days. Okay,
there's a lot happening, and it's all gonna be fine.
Don't worry. I can say this confidently. Laker fans, they're
(04:56):
gonna be okay. They're gonna win the West. Trust me,
I and through it. Briefly on Monday, I looked at
some of the numbers, the stats. There were some negative
trends for the Lakers, but then you've got to take
everything into account. The shooter lost is massive, folks. Alex
Scruso's not sniffing the starting lineup in an NBA playoff
game for the Lakers. He's a ten to fifteen minute guy. Maximo, Okay,
(05:21):
I mean Montrese, Harold rob g probably can address what's
going on with him. I don't know what a night tonight.
It feels like he's out of lineup. He's playing ten minutes.
I don't understand the Montres Harrold situation, and he's been
a pretty good six man for them, although Kuzma could
claim six man uh title for them. But the bottom
line is the Lakers beat the Nuggets. Denver is extremely
(05:44):
predictable on offense. In the fourth quarter, final seven minutes
of the game. The only two guys that scored or
Yo Kitchen Porter Jr. Now, they did start Dozer at
shooting guard and Rob g Uh. That's not gonna happen
in the playoffs. We know that. I got to say,
I'm a little surprised at the lack of offense or
(06:04):
even plays being run four or attackedness if that's a
word of Aaron Gordon. Um, this was like the best
player or the second best player in the Orlando Magic
and he's taken the same amount of shots as Jamichael
Greene in Denver. Like, what's going on? I mean, JaVale
McGee is coming off the bench jacking shots and Aaron
(06:27):
Gordon is basically playing defense. Like, you guys lost, Jamal Murray,
where's the scoring coming from? Campanazo? Is a fun story?
You know, Monty Morris is out, but this Denver team
is not beating the Lakers in the playoffs. Not without
Jamal Murray. Okay, he averaged twenty five points a game
in the series last year. You remove that. Even if
(06:47):
you say Michael Porter Jr. Steps up, that's fine unless
Aaron Gordon's pumping in fifteen to twenty a game and
based on his offensive output with Denver so far, that's
not gonna be the case. I'll give your kids third
two points on shots, guys, that's fine. You know, extremely
inefficient mark as Soul. I don't want to say locked
him up, but let's remember Marcus Sol has a Defensive
(07:09):
Player of the Year award in his file, cabinet at home,
probably in his championship cabinet. Actually, um but does he
have a championship cabinet? Maybe European stuff. I'm sure he's
got a bunch of Toronto. Does that count? What do
you mean? Does it count? Has been called the best
player in the world because of that title, not on
(07:31):
this podcast. Never. Goodness, gracious, all right, Rob, I know
you're chomping at the bit, champing, chomping, champing, whatever it
is to to to get in here. Um, I just
let me just say it was nice to see Horton
Tucker flash at the end. He did take a wild shot,
but he rebounded it and scored. He got put in,
ran a pick and roll with a d It worked
(07:51):
to perfection. And the real question, Rob, do the Lakers
beat the Nuggets for two or for one in the
first round? Oh? Four one in the first round, assuming
that's the first round match up? Yeah, I mean, unfortunately,
the injury to Jamal Murray just severely handicaps to Denver
Nuggets offensively. I know Porter Jr. Is a great score.
(08:13):
I know that Yokich is fantastics when m v P.
But the Lakers are uniquely qualified to defend big players
like that when they have issues with his guards and
wings and thankfully Denver doesn't have either one of those.
Right now, can I stop you for a second and
ask you about you said joke is going to an
m v P, and I would concede that is going
to be the case. Um, it's weird, though, what's his
(08:36):
most memorable moment this season? I mean, I got nothing, Like,
They're not top two in the West, They're probably not
even gonna be top four in the West, maybe maybe four. Um,
and it's he's gonna be remembered and this is no
fault of it. Listen, he's a very very good player, Okay,
but he's going to be remembered as the m v
(08:57):
P when everyone got injured. Oh yeah, there was the
year Harden got hurt and um Durant was hurt, and
Lebron was like leading the MVP race and he got
hurt at the Miss twenty Games and Joel Embiid was hurt.
Oh and isn't that the year that Steph Curry had
maybe the greatest month of any player in NBA history.
That that might have been. That was the year. Yeah,
(09:19):
that was the year Yoki one MVP. That's right. Curry
average thirty seven points a game in April while shooting
a breathtaking from three. He had five games of forty
or more points in the month of April, arguably the
greatest month of any player in NBA history. Oh yeah,
and Yokich is the MVP. It's gonna be weird. Like
(09:40):
if they do lose in the first round to the Lakers,
for one, and he gets the MVP. Uh, like what
do you? I don't know what you say. It's like,
here you go, man, great season, good job, congrats, But
it's not like nobody thinks. Nobody that Yokich is the
best player in the Nobody thinks that that's fine, but
he's having the best season. I mean that's not of
(10:02):
the guys who have been injury. Yeah. I mean, if
the debate is m VP is not the best player.
If it was the case, the lebron would have fourteen
of them. You know, it's it's about who's been the
most valuable. And and for all the talk about Steph
Curry and his forty point month whatever that he had,
I think one of the big games, I think he
had forty five and everyone was buzzing about what he did.
Uh you know his was a national TV game that
(10:24):
same night. Um, I believe Yokich dropped and like a
triple double that same night. So I don't understand why
you would say he has no Marroble moment just because
he plays in Denver. You don't watch him. That's pretty
when it comes down to I've watched plenty of I
can almost say composo. Now, I hope I said his
name right just now, by the way, but can you
(10:47):
imagine four point game against the Lakers, Like what fifteen
seconds left and Yogi is passing to some little guy
named Composo for a three pointer that like is math.
Sit for the game and listen. Composo is a fun
kid to watch. He was that kid. He's thirty from Argentina.
He's got that like South American flair. He's maybe a
(11:09):
little bigger than I am. And he said he's five
ten fun kid to watch. He gets a three pointer
blocked when Anthony Davis basically covers ten ft in a
second and just swats his three that would have cut
the game to one. Um, Composo, Welcome to big time basketball.
Good luck in the playoffs. All right, go ahead, Rob,
(11:31):
And I think you want to go in on somebody,
I'm not going in. Why do you always think I
have a negative? I'm excited. I'm excited that the Lakers
got the win. Does have something cooking. All I'm gonna
say is it's kind of good. All I'm gonna say
is if the Lakers season gets derail, which up until
last night, it looked like it was on the verge
of just being totally off the tracks and off the tracks. Honest, Rob,
(11:54):
you were very nervous. No, I was like a four album.
I was like a four to ten. I mean and
what one is the most service and you're for no, no,
But I mean, you know, in my in my opinion
as a Lakers fan, but also just as a basketball fan,
and the Lakers are in the play in tournament, that
means that the season has been a failure. It means
that that that they've decided that they are just not
(12:16):
taking the regular season seriously. And I know that to
a point. They don't have to du a degree, but
you'd like to see at least a little bit of fighting.
Up until last night, they weren't even trying at all.
It looked like, look like Anthony Davis is going like,
you know, energy level still doesn't No, he looked about
eighty last night, which is great considering where you looked
like the last week before that. But yeah, and again
(12:39):
just to defend him, he's playing with a lineup. We're
shooters in and out. Drummonds pretty new to the team,
Carusoe starting Lebron plays Lebron doesn't um. I don't even
know if Anthony Davis knows who Ben McLemore is. I mean,
that's how little these guys have played together. I still
don't know. You still have an explained to me, what's
(13:01):
going on with Harold, like the Lakers are stinkering essentially,
that's what they're doing, right, And I'm glad you brought
up three guys that I think are I'm gonna dovetail
until my bigger point. If the Lakers don't get to
where they should be, which is the NBA Finals. At
a minimum, I think they're gonna win it against Brooklyn,
but at a minimum, they should be in the finals.
(13:22):
And if they don't, I think that the blame would
have to lie squarely on the Clutch Sports guys. That
would be Lebron James and Anthony Davis. And the reason
being they deserve all of the credit for last season
because as soon as you get those two guys, you're
immediately a championship contending team. You may not win it,
(13:44):
but I can promise you any those two guys and
nine other role players is a finals contender. But this season,
the Clutch Sports group, that's what I'm gonna call him, Matt,
decided that they were going to completely take over the roster.
They were gonna get Montrez Harold on their with their
(14:06):
midd level exception, knowing full well he doesn't fit next
to Lebron in a D. They were going to pay
Cantavious Caldwell Pope big money off of basically a six
week span where he was any good, which was in
the bubble, and guarantee him a starting position even though
like last season, the only reason he was starting was
(14:28):
because Avery Bradley opted out. They and then things are
going okay, They're they're to good start because they're the Lakers.
They got Lebron and a D. They're gonna be good
either way. For whatever reason, they decided Marcosol is not
cutting it. He's not the lab threat that we wanted
or that we had last season. We need Andre Drummond.
(14:51):
And the only reason that Andre Drummond came to the
Lakers have been widely reported because he was recruited by
Lebron and Anthony Davis. Unfortunately, DeAndre grummand experiment has been
a complete failure and a lot of people are making this.
I saw this stack going like, oh, well, the Lakers
still have the best defense in the NBA, even when
(15:12):
Lebron a d were out. With that Andre Drummond on
the floor, you know he's whether you think he's aesthetically
pleasing offensively, he's contributing to winning. However, we do have
these things called analytics that you know, we have people
who only focus on net rating and real plus minus
and all kinds of stuff like that. During the time
when the Lakers did not have Lebron in a d,
(15:36):
the Lakers still the best defense in the NBA. However,
when Andre Drummond was on the court, they were a
minus seven point four points per one possessions. When Mark
Gassol was on the floor, they were a plus twelve
point two. Kyle Kuzma says after they lose to Toronto,
(15:58):
what's one thing they can do to maybe change the
mojo on the team. I don't know, maybe we should
get more minutes from from Marcosol. And what do you know,
Marcosol gets some meaningful minutes for the first time about
a month. He's plus seventeen and seventeen minutes. And like
you said, he shut down Yokish to the point that
you can shut him down. Andre German twenty two minutes
(16:18):
minus eleven with five fouls, zero rebounds, for a guy
who's six eleven, two seventy pounds. Oh, I just noticed
that that's roight. Like the Lakers are in this position
now where they're playing these clunky line if that don't
make any sense, precisely because clutch sports demands. That's that's
(16:39):
what happens the politics of the NBA. You know this,
Even working at Fox, there might be certain guys who
aren't as talented, who aren't as dedicated as their position,
but because they're down with the right person, the right group,
the right agency, they're gonna get more opportunities than someone else.
And in the Lakers situation, the guys who should have
(16:59):
been laying all along with Marcusol and Wes Matthews. However,
Ben McLamore shows up, and because he can shoot a
little bit, he's been getting free rein to shoot. I
think he leads the NBA in shots per pasts or
something like that. Like in other words, he's shooting seven
times more likely than he is to pass the ball.
(17:21):
When he gets the ball. He he doesn't. He doesn't
share the ball at all. Montre exactly, Montrese Harold, who
is a good energy guy, does not fit against with
Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond. I need to address the Montres
Harold thing. First of all, you really went in on Harold.
I thought that was extremely harsh. Rob. You may owe
him him an apology. I do want to say, you
(17:43):
didn't like the idea of getting he doesn't fit with
uh Anthony Davis. I think I would agree with that.
But it was pretty clear they were going away from
defense this year because they realized, hey, we're one of
the defensive teams in the league. We don't have offense
outside of Lebron and a D. In the bubble which
(18:05):
dovetails into your second point. K CP was their third
best player. You would not disagree with that, right, No
easy to him Rondo? Yeah, for sure, Yeah, Rondo was instrumental,
but it was it was supposed to be Kuzma all
the time, and it just never was Kuzma. KCP and
the Bubble proved his worth. They overpaid him. Yeah, but
when he's your third best player, can you go through
an entire season seventy two games? Probably not. So they
(18:26):
needed offense enter Harrold, who I think was the two
times six and NT of the year, or maybe it
was the winner and then a runner up. I didn't hate.
I didn't hate the Harrold move. You're right, though, you
can't play him Lebron and a D. That just doesn't work.
The lanes to plog too many non shooters. But ultimately
I didn't hate the Harrold move, the k CP move.
(18:48):
I think you had to kind of keep him. Did
They will pay, Yeah, but that's the clutch tax that
I think you talked about. But my real issue is
with Drummond. Okay, yes, zero rebounds in twenty two minutes
pretty an embarrassing last night. He was terrible. That being said,
they needed him when a D was out. I just
(19:08):
want to remind you how bad Mark Gasol was early
in the season. I'm excluding December, It's just five games
in the month of January. Rob Marc Gasol, a center,
shut thirty from the field three points per game in February,
fourteen games he shot. He was lost offensively, and once
(19:36):
a D was down and Lebron was down, they could not.
I don't want to say they weren't going to be
a playoff team with just Horton Tucker and Wes Matthews
and these guys, but they needed Drummond's offense. And you know,
I mean, Drummond is not a good defensive player. We
know that, but he's gonna He's a twelve and ten guy.
(19:56):
When a D s out. I mean, here we go,
we were They have seven games left in the season, right,
the thirty seven and twenty eight, so seven games left.
I do believe they will still give a decent rest
and Drummond will get a lot of those minutes now
in the playoffs. How many minutes is he getting? That's
a damn good question. I could be matchup contingent. How
(20:17):
does Drummond match up against, say, Rudy Gobert, how does
Drummond match up against your kids? Well, we know the
answer is terrible. You know what about DeAndre eight and
the Suns, Like I do think what the Lakers have
now is flexibility, Rob. They're able to say, hey, we've
got our lockdown big guy Marcus All. He's gonna be big.
In one series, Drummond will be a non factor. But
(20:37):
in the next series, Drummond may have more minutes and
Soul may play more minutes. Off City. You know, um,
there's gonna be series where Horton Tucker plays more. Maybe Caruso.
The Lakers, and we said this early, once they get
Shooter back, Rob, this is the deepest team in the league.
Like we talked about, oh Brooklyn added Blake Griffin and Uh,
(20:58):
this kid James, who is fun to watch, by the way,
and Claxton, and like you look at the Lakers bench,
They've got like legitimate players with experience. I mean Andre
Jummond has been in a couple of playoff series. As
you said, Marcus souls want a title uh in Toronto,
which I like to discredit because I'm a Warriors guy.
Um but you look at I mean Mantres Harrold has
been in tons of playoff wars. Never want anything, but
(21:20):
he's been in battles. I mean, you look at this
Denver team that the Lakers are gonna be facing, and
it's like, oh, Aaron Gordon, I think he's been in
one playoff series. Compozzo is like a rookie. You know,
when the playoff lights are right, it's gonna be your
kitchen porter attempting probably forty five shots between them. And
I don't think the Lakers are gonna have a problem
(21:42):
with that. I mean I went into the night like
you I wanted on Monday, and I think it Damn
I don't know. Man could get dicey for the Lakers here.
The schedule down the stretch is not favorable. They have
the Clippers, Thursday, Roub, I'm gonna assume Lebron's back for
that right. It's tough. I think because it's a back
to BA, You're more likely to see him against Portland
(22:02):
because because that would be a game that I would
consider more of a must win. They're not going to
catch the Clippers in the standing, so it doesn't really
matter if they beat them or not. It is at Staples,
but the Lakers Portland's game is a swing game either
way because that's a full game winner lose. That's a
fair point. Okay, So Clippers Thursday in the national TeV
(22:23):
game Portland's Phoenix, which is currently half a game behind
the Jazz at the top of the West. The Knicks,
who I think I'm gonna do a couple of minutes
on I have to. I've had too many of my
Knicks fans buddies being like, yo, respect the Knicks talk
about Julius Randall. Okay, I will in a minute. After
the Knicks they have a back to back with Houston,
the worst team in the league. That's a perfect game
(22:45):
to rest a d and Lebron and let Andre Drummond
and Horton Tucker go against Kevin Porter and company in Houston.
Then the Lakers have Indiana and New Orleans. Now that's
a back to back Houston. I'm sorry, Indiana New Orleans
are closed the season. The Pelicans would be out of
the playoff race, so they may just rest their guys
and the Lakers can kind of, you know, be have
(23:05):
Lebron in a d on a minute restriction. But it's
looking to me, Rob, based on that schedule. And then
you make a good point, maybe they wrest Lebron against
the Clippers so he can play against Portland's But then
Lebron will have not played since Sunday and he plays
again on Friday. I don't know. That's a tough one.
I mean, without Truder, I don't think they're beating the
(23:27):
Clips without Truder and Lebron. I'm sorry, I don't think
they're beating the Clippers. Um. As good as the defense
was against Denver, Clippers are another animal. They're shockingly one
of the best three point shooting teams in the league.
But I can pretty confidently say Rob that I think
the Lakers end up with the five, and then you're
looking at the Clippers at three, and so the Lakers
(23:50):
would play Denver in the first round, we both agree
it's a win. And then in the second round they
would play Utah or Phoenix, unless you know, the Warriors
get crazy hot or something. I'm curious before we get
to the next Jazz versus the Suns, who would you
rather play? Who do you think would give the Lakers
(24:10):
more trouble? They're about equal. Um. I think that Utah
would give the Lakers more trouble only because they have
experience in the postseason. Like you know, that's something that
you just can't duplicate. It doesn't matter whether or not
you're a better team versus one or the other. When
two teams are comparable, you usually go with the team
that has the skins on the wall, so to speak.
And and Phoenix only has Chris Paul and Jay Crowder,
(24:34):
and Chris Paul is just as likely to pull a
hammy as he is to hit a big shot against you.
It's a good point. Fox Sports Radio has the best
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I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Regarding Clutch real quick, but did I change your mind
(25:00):
at all? On Drummond I mean, I get what you're
saying on KCP. I don't know what the alternative was, um,
like who else was out there? Who could they have gotten?
And then you've also got to remember, hey, we've got
to kind of keep Laurn happy. He came to the Lakers.
They want a freaking title. He does what he's doing
as a GM. Um. I don't think it's the worst
(25:20):
thing in the world that they that they kept KCP.
I mean no, I mean, and I should clarify the
k CP signing. You you had to overpake as the
Clutch tacts. The Mantres Harold signing was to me, screamed
regular season signing because they think they do. You think
that the Mantras Harold thing, any factor at all had
to be whoa the Clippers went into last year better
(25:44):
than us on paper? They fall apart in the bubble.
We can steal their sprim running sixth man, who was
kind of their energy guy, Like, who was the tough
guy on the Clippers last year? I mean, Mantras Harold
was one of the lead guys talking ship to Luca.
Remember what do you say, take that ship? White boyers punk?
So Montres Harold is like He was like, I don't
(26:05):
want to say the heart and soul because lou Williams
was kind of half that um. But if you can
rip that away from your Crosstown Rifles, if you're gonna
need to play the Clippers, nobody in that locker room
is gonna be as motivated as Montres Harold, not even Lebron.
And remember I still think Lebron is and again I
have nothing to back this up other than pure obviousness.
(26:26):
Lebron is probably still a little bit pissed at Kauai
for not joining him in l A and instead plucking
Paul George and then coming at the King. Well, you
know the same from the wire. You come at the King,
you best not miss. And Kauai has done nothing but
shoot blanks with play off Paul George, and now he
lost pretty much his bodyguard in Montrese Harold, who's like
(26:46):
the tough guy on the Clippers. He still has one
of the morrist brothers, but let's just say they cancel
each other out given the Lakers have one. I'm not
afraid of the Clippers in the West. If I'm the Lakers, yeah,
I wouldn't be there in a playoff setting. At least
in the regular season. And yes, because the Lakers have
zero wing defenders to defend Paul George and Kauai So
in a regular season matchup, of course, But I guess
(27:07):
to summarize the whole rat that I want over about
four minutes to be clarified in one statement, the Lakers
issues were that they were not playing their best center
because of a clutch loyalty, so to speak, because Lebron
and a d wanted Andre Drummond, their foreigner drummer was
gonna play, whether he's fit or not, because they decided
they wanted him. Mantrez Harrold was going to play because
(27:29):
he's a clutch client. And the last thing you want
to do if you're the Lakers is to piss off
clutch sports, because half your roster's clutched sports. So because
of that, their best team was never on the floor,
which included Marc gasol so, which included at Science West Matthews.
But because Ben McLamore, again another clutch guy, even though
(27:49):
he's brand new making tons of mistakes, He's gonna get
the opportunity to make those mistakes because of the fact
that he was brought in by Lebron and na D.
So I think for the Lakers to get the we
need to go. They need to decide. I didn't just
Frank Vogels the man up and say I'm gonna play
who gives me the best chance to win and stop
with the politics, and I'm going through right now the
last few weeks. You know, uh, friend of the podcast,
(28:12):
Cuffs the legend. He famously obviously close to Lebron. We
don't know how close. I'm not going to speculate. You know,
it's pretty clear Lebron like follows him on Instagram and
likes his stuff in comments and whatever, and on Twitter
as well. Cuffs the legend last postseason went in on
(28:32):
Danny Green repeatedly, we are shipping Davy Green FedEx out
of town the second the parades over. I mean he
was saying it from like early in the playoffs Danny
Green got Jettison. Cuffs the legend has been saying it's
about West Matthews frequently. Now West, I listen, I don't.
I'm not gonna pretend like I've watched West Matthews very closely.
(28:55):
He's a veteranting He's supposed to be a three and
D guy. Um, I don't know, but I don't think
Wesley Matthews is a fifteen minute a game guy in
the playoffs to you, no, but I think he's someone
I would count on a hell of a lot more
than Ben McLamore because even if his shots not falling,
which McLamore shot wasn't falling last night, at least West
Matthews can defend and Ben mcmore it's just a shooter,
(29:17):
that's about it. More likely to have a splash game
in the playoffs, the way we expect who's going to
have one point game? Marcasoul will have a game. I
think one of the Morris twin. Yes, I'm still gonna
call it the Morris twin. Um had a game in
the playoffs where he went bananas and heet like four
(29:37):
threes in the first half. More likely to have one
of those in the playoffs Matthews or McLamore. McLamore because
I think he can just can just gonna shoot. You know,
he's gonna shoot, He's all he is. He may also
give up like three layups on the other end and
blow a bunch of defensive coverages. But if he gets hot,
he gets hot, and the thing is in the postseason.
(29:59):
If it's especially right now down the stretch when you
need to win these games, you want the guy who's
less likely to make a bonehead mistake. Yeah, I remember
was there was a game might have been against Brooklyn
where he came in and was just I mean just
pop pop pop pop, just firing like he was just
trigger happy. Um. I mean he's fearless, that's what he says.
(30:21):
He's really is a j R. Smith without you know,
all the cockiness. He's just pure shooter. Um. Ultimately, I
think the Lakers are fine. I just want to quickly,
Rob let me do two minutes on the New York Knicks.
I need to give a shout out to the Knicks.
After they went over the Grizzlies on Monday, the New
York Knicks secured a playoff spot. Why is that a
(30:45):
big deal. Well, as a fan of the Knicks, I
can tell you they have one playoff series win this
century okay, twenty NBA seasons. Since the year two thousand,
they have one playoff series win. Came against Boston. Um
they lost in the next round to Indiana. They lost.
(31:07):
It was Paul George David West Um some grimy Indiana
teams that end up getting run out by the heat.
But the Knicks have been putrid, unwatchable and embarrassment this century.
And Rob, this is the weirdest thing. They're really good
this year thanks to Thibodeau and of course Julius Randall,
who's playing lights out, is going to be all NBA
(31:29):
second or third team. It's not a team that's easy
to fall in love with. I don't know what it is.
Like Julius Randol's playing his ass off, He's ridiculous. But Rob, like,
you know how, like there's an underdog team that will
come up. I'll never forget when the Warriors came up.
They had the Splash Brothers Moniker, before Draymond was a thing.
(31:50):
It was Clay and Curry, and they like they would
just be fun to watch. It would just be jacking
up threes and they were like exciting. And the seven
seconds or less Sons team came out of nowhere. I
know it's sacrilegious to say as as a Knicks fan
from the first NBA game I went to in but
(32:11):
this team is like not that exciting to watch a
Derrick Rose had a monster game against the Grizzlies, you know.
I mean, I don't loved Rose the way everybody else
seems to. He's like a cult hero. I won't understand it. Rob.
There's two cult heroes that I just don't get, Carmelo
Anthony and Derrick Rose. I don't totally get an Ellis
(32:32):
and Rose when he was healthy before the knees was magical.
I mean, I I was incredible. I'll never forget his
first playoff series against Boston and he just lit him.
He might have been rookie and he just went ape
ship on the Celtics, Derrick Rose torturing him. And now
Derrick Ross is like, I mean, he can't shoot and
he just attacks the rim and like lays it in
and he had a couple of threes the other night
(32:54):
yet last night. But like Julius Randall, Reggie Bullock, Alfred
Paint and Obi Toppin is barely playing Like Alex Burke's
is a guy. I like r J. Barrett. He's playing well, um,
but he's like a distant second to Randall, who's just
really good. But I don't know, Man, he's on like
his third team. Rob, So it doesn't I don't know.
(33:17):
I can't put my finger on it. But this isn't
a Nix team that I like, absolutely love, like say
that Jeremy Lynn Nix, you know, which I was really
excited about. They were fun to watch an underdog. Um.
I don't know. Maybe it's just that they're automatically gonna
get waxed by the number one seed in the second round,
whether it's the Nets or the or the Sickistors. You know,
(33:37):
it's also the fact that they play a defensive style
of basketball that is not visually appealing. That that could
be another big part of it. I mean, Julius Randalls
should be what second team All NBA maybe, so you
should ask you should be happy about that? I am, um,
but you're right, it might be that defensive rand of basketball.
And listen, it's funny because when I coach my kids,
(34:00):
I stress defense. I'm like, listen, if you guys ever
think you're gonna get to like an AU team or
some kind of high school basketball team freshman years, whatever
it is, you're gonna do it with defense. If you
can't play defense, you've gotta have no chance to get
in the game. You know. Defense isn't fun, nobody wants
to practice it, but you gotta move move those puppies
on defense and stop somebody. And you know, you trill
(34:24):
it in as much as you want. And no kids
want to play defense. Everybody just wants to go jack
up shots. I know my role, rob Gie. I've been
playing some buckets. So I'll close out with a fun
story for the few dads who play pick up basketball
with me. And notice, so we started playing pick up
games and this one big dude brought a friend once
and he's a lefty. He's kind of a slow motion
(34:46):
type lefty. Um, and he's good inside and now he's long,
so he's a good defender. And you know, he's playing
really well, like it's four on four. So the number
one guy, you know, is the number one option. He's
like the perfect number two right. Um, he plays defense
and he can run, you know, point, he hustles. He's
just a smart player. And he actually turns out he's
(35:07):
from my area. I got the normal over in outside
of d C. And so the time before last I
texted his friend, the guy who regular, and I said,
you know, I want to guard him. I haven't guarded
him yet, and I think I've watched his game. I'm
the kind of guy who I'll study tendencies and pick
it up. And remember, I know this guy likes to
do this. So we were matched up against each other
(35:28):
and I said to the guy, yeah, I don't say anything.
I got him and like four possessions that I'm hounding him.
I'm I'm like denying the ball. Tom Thibodeau has this
stuff like you gotta play hardcore defense. And the guy
does nothing in the game. He scores one bucket and
it wasn't on me, and it was a game winner.
It was like on a fast break. I wasn't even
(35:49):
down there. And I said, I said, I told you
I would guard him. And then we played again and
he had one bucket again that's it. And and again
I'm not trying to brag and say I'm a great defender,
but I know my role, Like I'm not gonna be
the point guard running the pick and roll. Like there's
younger guys who do that. Okay, there are former high
school fringe D three guys who do that. They are
(36:10):
to pick up game, and I just I know my role.
If I could defend and I'm gonna get i don't know,
five or six shots in a game to eleven and
if I could make three of them, three of six,
there is seven three of it. Whatever, boom, that's a
win for me. Lockdown defense, and that's what the Knicks
are doing. Basically, they're saying Julius Randall's or Alpha, He's
gonna play all the minutes. R J. Barrett, we need
(36:32):
you to uh, you know, rebound, play defense and make
a couple of threes. And then Derrick rose Burke's quickly.
We need you guys off the bench to deliver. That's
our recipe. And if you look at the Knicks like
they all they know their roles, they're defined, and I
think maybe that be a might be a gripe of yours,
Rob With the Lakers. I'm guessing here is that with
(36:54):
seven games left in the regular season, the Lakers don't
really have defined roles. Is that a problem for you, Yes, yes,
it is. You was like you're reading my mind. It
feels like I just I guess with the depth, you know,
with the Knicks they have like five six guys. You know,
Lakers have like ten or eleven guys. I mean, I
will not be shocked if Andre Drummond has a did
(37:14):
not play coach's decision in a playoff game. It's all
matchup dependent. I mean, who do you trust more in
a playoff series, Andre Drummond h Montres hero On a
playoff series Montres Herold of course. Yeah. So I mean,
like Drummond could be excited for you know, getting on
a on a team and Clutch helped him out. But
I mean I hope he's not gonna go chirping in
the playoffs, like, hey, guys, you know, can I get
(37:36):
the minutes? You know, like, dude, part of being on
the Lebron team is being quiet. Take off the warm
up jersey when told to get in the game, hustle,
you know, like, don't rock, don't rock the vote. Um,
all right, So anyways, I'm bullish on the Lakers. Rob.
If I asked you today who comes out of the West,
(37:58):
who plays in the Western Cup Finals? Who you got Lakers, Clippers,
Lakers going to the finals, I would say that's accurate.
I give the Jazz very little chance against the Clips.
For some reason, I think that the Suns could give
him health. With Bridges and Crowder on the wing. I
(38:21):
think those are two good defenders of Chris Paul if
you can stay healthy. Um, and I don't know. I mean,
do you put Kawai on Devin Booker? Do you put
Kauai and Chris Paul? Well, Kawai doesn't defend like he
used to. We talked about this before, and I mean
once he became who's our defender, Reggie Jack. Paul George
has been has been taking the best of the best
player offensively interesting. I'm sorry, Paul George. You've got a
(38:44):
lot to prove in the playoffs after last season. Anyways,
all right, we got a good guest coming up tomorrow. Guys,
enjoy the games. We'll talk to you then.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Straight Fire? Fam, it's your boy, Jason McIntyre. Tuesday, May
fourth of a little muted because so much good news
is covering your way. I just love it. I love
what we're talking about today, folks. I just want to
(00:27):
set the stage for you before I go on a
nice little ram. This is gonna be a fun one, Okay.
So everybody was focused the last week on the NFL Draft.
Obviously your attention was what are the forty Niners doing?
Are they taking trade lance and they taking mac Jones?
The debate raged, and then the Aaron Rodgers news hit,
and Aaron Rodgers was a big story, and everybody kind
(00:49):
of both eyes left the NBA right, And the NBA
takes a hit in March from March Madness, and with
so many stars out, you know, everybody's kind of downshifted
a little bit on the NBA. But then Monday comes
and oh, j did you see what's going on with
the Lakers? All I'm hearing, oh Lebron's a winer, Lakers, stink,
(01:12):
Lakers are one in six, They're the play and it's over.
A D's not even trying the Lakers are in trouble.
They're more likely to go out in the play in
than win the title. Of course, everybody has put the
draft behind them. They're now focused on bashing Lebron and
the Lakers. And you know that quantum leap. Everybody gets
(01:34):
out there jumped to conclusions, Matt and they say, okay,
so Lebron is the shell of himself. He's come back
from injury that the high ankle sprain, he's been very
poor and oh, by the way, he's out out of
the Jordan. You know how the joke goes. The Lakers
are struggling, Let's blame Lebron. Let's blame Lebron for his
(01:54):
quote that the idea of the playing game is stupid
and I'm pair phrasing because I don't have it in
front of me. And he cursed about it, and then
of course everybody wants to call about look what he
said two years ago. And they did this to Luca
don j as well, because that's what people do, the
build up tear down. We've been through this the media
very predictable lot, and of course you know the social
(02:16):
media jabrones who like to go after Lebron. So okay,
we got a big game Monday night, Lakers versus the Nuggets.
Nuggets are hot. I think the Nuggets have gone nine
and one in their last ten. Rob G can check
me on that if you if I'm wrong, And the
Lakers have been sloppy, and the Lakers are tied for
seventh with a couple also rans, and oh my gosh,
(02:41):
panic in l A. And then the game comes and
the Lakers pretty much are cruising until the very end
of the game and went to Denver Nuggets throughout massive
scared to the Lakers, but l A wins. They hold on.
Some big narratives come out of this game, folks, and
they're all positive for the Lakers, all of them. Uh,
I'm not just getting rob G homer ish here. The Lakers.
(03:03):
This is great news because they went into this game
like the Lakers gotta have it, and Denver's very good
and they're hot, and they have the m v P
and we'll get to that um and the Lakers need
this game. But what happened. The Lakers basically turned back
the clock. It was old school Frank Vogel defense. I mean,
it's an ugly game. In the first half. I texted
Bravos like, my gosh, this games unwatchable. It's like thirty
(03:26):
late second quarter. Vogel went and turned up the defense,
a lot of Horton Tucker, a lot of Caruso who
was in the starting lineup that we got pulled late,
and Horton Tucker came in and made two winning plays. Um,
but I think the takeaways here. Let's just remember one thing.
How many times when Lebron was in the East and
(03:48):
the Calves kind of slept walk or the Heat kind
of slept walk through the regular season and then everybody's like, oh,
you know, the Raptors look good. I don't know, got
to be care old is Atlanta Hawks won sixty games,
Lebron sits of trouble, and then he got to the
finals because the regular season is a different animal than
(04:10):
the playoffs in the NBA. You know this, Okay, don't
panic Laker fans. They're fine. They're gonna be okay. They
stud their toe this past week. It's been a rough
ten days. They're working Lebron back in. Anthony Davis is
getting up to speed. They're handling the delicate gasol Drummond
uh dance, which will get too shortly. Kuzma had been
(04:33):
playing a lot of six man. He's now thrust him
the starting line up. There a Shrewder their third best player.
That's a fact, that is an undeniable fact. Dennis Shredder
is the Lakers third best player. He's now out in
COVID protocols. I thought I heard ten to fourteen days. Okay,
there's a lot happening, and it's all gonna be fine.
Don't worry. I can say this confidently. Laker fans, they're
(04:56):
gonna be okay. They're gonna win the West. Trust me,
I and through it. Briefly on Monday, I looked at
some of the numbers, the stats. There were some negative
trends for the Lakers, but then you've got to take
everything into account. The shooter lost is massive, folks. Alex
Scruso's not sniffing the starting lineup in an NBA playoff
game for the Lakers. He's a ten to fifteen minute guy. Maximo, Okay,
(05:21):
I mean Montrese, Harold rob g probably can address what's
going on with him. I don't know what a night tonight.
It feels like he's out of lineup. He's playing ten minutes.
I don't understand the Montres Harrold situation, and he's been
a pretty good six man for them, although Kuzma could
claim six man uh title for them. But the bottom
line is the Lakers beat the Nuggets. Denver is extremely
(05:44):
predictable on offense. In the fourth quarter, final seven minutes
of the game. The only two guys that scored or
Yo Kitchen Porter Jr. Now, they did start Dozer at
shooting guard and Rob g Uh. That's not gonna happen
in the playoffs. We know that. I got to say,
I'm a little surprised at the lack of offense or
(06:04):
even plays being run four or attackedness if that's a
word of Aaron Gordon. Um, this was like the best
player or the second best player in the Orlando Magic
and he's taken the same amount of shots as Jamichael
Greene in Denver. Like, what's going on? I mean, JaVale
McGee is coming off the bench jacking shots and Aaron
(06:27):
Gordon is basically playing defense. Like, you guys lost, Jamal Murray,
where's the scoring coming from? Campanazo? Is a fun story?
You know, Monty Morris is out, but this Denver team
is not beating the Lakers in the playoffs. Not without
Jamal Murray. Okay, he averaged twenty five points a game
in the series last year. You remove that. Even if
(06:47):
you say Michael Porter Jr. Steps up, that's fine unless
Aaron Gordon's pumping in fifteen to twenty a game and
based on his offensive output with Denver so far, that's
not gonna be the case. I'll give your kids third
two points on shots, guys, that's fine. You know, extremely
inefficient mark as Soul. I don't want to say locked
him up, but let's remember Marcus Sol has a Defensive
(07:09):
Player of the Year award in his file, cabinet at home,
probably in his championship cabinet. Actually, um but does he
have a championship cabinet? Maybe European stuff. I'm sure he's
got a bunch of Toronto. Does that count? What do
you mean? Does it count? Has been called the best
player in the world because of that title, not on
(07:31):
this podcast. Never. Goodness, gracious, all right, Rob, I know
you're chomping at the bit, champing, chomping, champing, whatever it
is to to to get in here. Um, I just
let me just say it was nice to see Horton
Tucker flash at the end. He did take a wild shot,
but he rebounded it and scored. He got put in,
ran a pick and roll with a d It worked
(07:51):
to perfection. And the real question, Rob, do the Lakers
beat the Nuggets for two or for one in the
first round? Oh? Four one in the first round, assuming
that's the first round match up? Yeah, I mean, unfortunately,
the injury to Jamal Murray just severely handicaps to Denver
Nuggets offensively. I know Porter Jr. Is a great score.
(08:13):
I know that Yokich is fantastics when m v P.
But the Lakers are uniquely qualified to defend big players
like that when they have issues with his guards and
wings and thankfully Denver doesn't have either one of those.
Right now, can I stop you for a second and
ask you about you said joke is going to an
m v P, and I would concede that is going
to be the case. Um, it's weird, though, what's his
(08:36):
most memorable moment this season? I mean, I got nothing, Like,
They're not top two in the West, They're probably not
even gonna be top four in the West, maybe maybe four. Um,
and it's he's gonna be remembered and this is no
fault of it. Listen, he's a very very good player, Okay,
but he's going to be remembered as the m v
(08:57):
P when everyone got injured. Oh yeah, there was the
year Harden got hurt and um Durant was hurt, and
Lebron was like leading the MVP race and he got
hurt at the Miss twenty Games and Joel Embiid was hurt.
Oh and isn't that the year that Steph Curry had
maybe the greatest month of any player in NBA history.
That that might have been. That was the year. Yeah,
(09:19):
that was the year Yoki one MVP. That's right. Curry
average thirty seven points a game in April while shooting
a breathtaking from three. He had five games of forty
or more points in the month of April, arguably the
greatest month of any player in NBA history. Oh yeah,
and Yokich is the MVP. It's gonna be weird. Like
(09:40):
if they do lose in the first round to the Lakers,
for one, and he gets the MVP. Uh, like what
do you? I don't know what you say. It's like,
here you go, man, great season, good job, congrats, But
it's not like nobody thinks. Nobody that Yokich is the
best player in the Nobody thinks that that's fine, but
he's having the best season. I mean that's not of
(10:02):
the guys who have been injury. Yeah. I mean, if
the debate is m VP is not the best player.
If it was the case, the lebron would have fourteen
of them. You know, it's it's about who's been the
most valuable. And and for all the talk about Steph
Curry and his forty point month whatever that he had,
I think one of the big games, I think he
had forty five and everyone was buzzing about what he did.
Uh you know his was a national TV game that
(10:24):
same night. Um, I believe Yokich dropped and like a
triple double that same night. So I don't understand why
you would say he has no Marroble moment just because
he plays in Denver. You don't watch him. That's pretty
when it comes down to I've watched plenty of I
can almost say composo. Now, I hope I said his
name right just now, by the way, but can you
(10:47):
imagine four point game against the Lakers, Like what fifteen
seconds left and Yogi is passing to some little guy
named Composo for a three pointer that like is math.
Sit for the game and listen. Composo is a fun
kid to watch. He was that kid. He's thirty from Argentina.
He's got that like South American flair. He's maybe a
(11:09):
little bigger than I am. And he said he's five
ten fun kid to watch. He gets a three pointer
blocked when Anthony Davis basically covers ten ft in a
second and just swats his three that would have cut
the game to one. Um, Composo, Welcome to big time basketball.
Good luck in the playoffs. All right, go ahead, Rob,
(11:31):
And I think you want to go in on somebody,
I'm not going in. Why do you always think I
have a negative? I'm excited. I'm excited that the Lakers
got the win. Does have something cooking. All I'm gonna
say is it's kind of good. All I'm gonna say
is if the Lakers season gets derail, which up until
last night, it looked like it was on the verge
of just being totally off the tracks and off the tracks. Honest, Rob,
(11:54):
you were very nervous. No, I was like a four album.
I was like a four to ten. I mean and
what one is the most service and you're for no, no,
But I mean, you know, in my in my opinion
as a Lakers fan, but also just as a basketball fan,
and the Lakers are in the play in tournament, that
means that the season has been a failure. It means
that that that they've decided that they are just not
(12:16):
taking the regular season seriously. And I know that to
a point. They don't have to du a degree, but
you'd like to see at least a little bit of fighting.
Up until last night, they weren't even trying at all.
It looked like, look like Anthony Davis is going like,
you know, energy level still doesn't No, he looked about
eighty last night, which is great considering where you looked
like the last week before that. But yeah, and again
(12:39):
just to defend him, he's playing with a lineup. We're
shooters in and out. Drummonds pretty new to the team,
Carusoe starting Lebron plays Lebron doesn't um. I don't even
know if Anthony Davis knows who Ben McLemore is. I mean,
that's how little these guys have played together. I still
don't know. You still have an explained to me, what's
(13:01):
going on with Harold, like the Lakers are stinkering essentially,
that's what they're doing, right, And I'm glad you brought
up three guys that I think are I'm gonna dovetail
until my bigger point. If the Lakers don't get to
where they should be, which is the NBA Finals. At
a minimum, I think they're gonna win it against Brooklyn,
but at a minimum, they should be in the finals.
(13:22):
And if they don't, I think that the blame would
have to lie squarely on the Clutch Sports guys. That
would be Lebron James and Anthony Davis. And the reason
being they deserve all of the credit for last season
because as soon as you get those two guys, you're
immediately a championship contending team. You may not win it,
(13:44):
but I can promise you any those two guys and
nine other role players is a finals contender. But this season,
the Clutch Sports group, that's what I'm gonna call him, Matt,
decided that they were going to completely take over the roster.
They were gonna get Montrez Harold on their with their
(14:06):
midd level exception, knowing full well he doesn't fit next
to Lebron in a D. They were going to pay
Cantavious Caldwell Pope big money off of basically a six
week span where he was any good, which was in
the bubble, and guarantee him a starting position even though
like last season, the only reason he was starting was
(14:28):
because Avery Bradley opted out. They and then things are
going okay, They're they're to good start because they're the Lakers.
They got Lebron and a D. They're gonna be good
either way. For whatever reason, they decided Marcosol is not
cutting it. He's not the lab threat that we wanted
or that we had last season. We need Andre Drummond.
(14:51):
And the only reason that Andre Drummond came to the
Lakers have been widely reported because he was recruited by
Lebron and Anthony Davis. Unfortunately, DeAndre grummand experiment has been
a complete failure and a lot of people are making this.
I saw this stack going like, oh, well, the Lakers
still have the best defense in the NBA, even when
(15:12):
Lebron a d were out. With that Andre Drummond on
the floor, you know he's whether you think he's aesthetically
pleasing offensively, he's contributing to winning. However, we do have
these things called analytics that you know, we have people
who only focus on net rating and real plus minus
and all kinds of stuff like that. During the time
when the Lakers did not have Lebron in a d,
(15:36):
the Lakers still the best defense in the NBA. However,
when Andre Drummond was on the court, they were a
minus seven point four points per one possessions. When Mark
Gassol was on the floor, they were a plus twelve
point two. Kyle Kuzma says after they lose to Toronto,
(15:58):
what's one thing they can do to maybe change the
mojo on the team. I don't know, maybe we should
get more minutes from from Marcosol. And what do you know,
Marcosol gets some meaningful minutes for the first time about
a month. He's plus seventeen and seventeen minutes. And like
you said, he shut down Yokish to the point that
you can shut him down. Andre German twenty two minutes
(16:18):
minus eleven with five fouls, zero rebounds, for a guy
who's six eleven, two seventy pounds. Oh, I just noticed
that that's roight. Like the Lakers are in this position
now where they're playing these clunky line if that don't
make any sense, precisely because clutch sports demands. That's that's
(16:39):
what happens the politics of the NBA. You know this,
Even working at Fox, there might be certain guys who
aren't as talented, who aren't as dedicated as their position,
but because they're down with the right person, the right group,
the right agency, they're gonna get more opportunities than someone else.
And in the Lakers situation, the guys who should have
(16:59):
been laying all along with Marcusol and Wes Matthews. However,
Ben McLamore shows up, and because he can shoot a
little bit, he's been getting free rein to shoot. I
think he leads the NBA in shots per pasts or
something like that. Like in other words, he's shooting seven
times more likely than he is to pass the ball.
(17:21):
When he gets the ball. He he doesn't. He doesn't
share the ball at all. Montre exactly, Montrese Harold, who
is a good energy guy, does not fit against with
Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond. I need to address the Montres
Harold thing. First of all, you really went in on Harold.
I thought that was extremely harsh. Rob. You may owe
him him an apology. I do want to say, you
(17:43):
didn't like the idea of getting he doesn't fit with
uh Anthony Davis. I think I would agree with that.
But it was pretty clear they were going away from
defense this year because they realized, hey, we're one of
the defensive teams in the league. We don't have offense
outside of Lebron and a D. In the bubble which
(18:05):
dovetails into your second point. K CP was their third
best player. You would not disagree with that, right, No
easy to him Rondo? Yeah, for sure, Yeah, Rondo was instrumental,
but it was it was supposed to be Kuzma all
the time, and it just never was Kuzma. KCP and
the Bubble proved his worth. They overpaid him. Yeah, but
when he's your third best player, can you go through
an entire season seventy two games? Probably not. So they
(18:26):
needed offense enter Harrold, who I think was the two
times six and NT of the year, or maybe it
was the winner and then a runner up. I didn't hate.
I didn't hate the Harrold move. You're right, though, you
can't play him Lebron and a D. That just doesn't work.
The lanes to plog too many non shooters. But ultimately
I didn't hate the Harrold move, the k CP move.
(18:48):
I think you had to kind of keep him. Did
They will pay, Yeah, but that's the clutch tax that
I think you talked about. But my real issue is
with Drummond. Okay, yes, zero rebounds in twenty two minutes
pretty an embarrassing last night. He was terrible. That being said,
they needed him when a D was out. I just
(19:08):
want to remind you how bad Mark Gasol was early
in the season. I'm excluding December, It's just five games
in the month of January. Rob Marc Gasol, a center,
shut thirty from the field three points per game in February,
fourteen games he shot. He was lost offensively, and once
(19:36):
a D was down and Lebron was down, they could not.
I don't want to say they weren't going to be
a playoff team with just Horton Tucker and Wes Matthews
and these guys, but they needed Drummond's offense. And you know,
I mean, Drummond is not a good defensive player. We
know that, but he's gonna He's a twelve and ten guy.
(19:56):
When a D s out. I mean, here we go,
we were They have seven games left in the season, right,
the thirty seven and twenty eight, so seven games left.
I do believe they will still give a decent rest
and Drummond will get a lot of those minutes now
in the playoffs. How many minutes is he getting? That's
a damn good question. I could be matchup contingent. How
(20:17):
does Drummond match up against, say, Rudy Gobert, how does
Drummond match up against your kids? Well, we know the
answer is terrible. You know what about DeAndre eight and
the Suns, Like I do think what the Lakers have
now is flexibility, Rob. They're able to say, hey, we've
got our lockdown big guy Marcus All. He's gonna be big.
In one series, Drummond will be a non factor. But
(20:37):
in the next series, Drummond may have more minutes and
Soul may play more minutes. Off City. You know, um,
there's gonna be series where Horton Tucker plays more. Maybe Caruso.
The Lakers, and we said this early, once they get
Shooter back, Rob, this is the deepest team in the league.
Like we talked about, oh Brooklyn added Blake Griffin and Uh,
(20:58):
this kid James, who is fun to watch, by the way,
and Claxton, and like you look at the Lakers bench,
They've got like legitimate players with experience. I mean Andre
Jummond has been in a couple of playoff series. As
you said, Marcus souls want a title uh in Toronto,
which I like to discredit because I'm a Warriors guy.
Um but you look at I mean Mantres Harrold has
been in tons of playoff wars. Never want anything, but
(21:20):
he's been in battles. I mean, you look at this
Denver team that the Lakers are gonna be facing, and
it's like, oh, Aaron Gordon, I think he's been in
one playoff series. Compozzo is like a rookie. You know,
when the playoff lights are right, it's gonna be your
kitchen porter attempting probably forty five shots between them. And
I don't think the Lakers are gonna have a problem
(21:42):
with that. I mean I went into the night like
you I wanted on Monday, and I think it Damn
I don't know. Man could get dicey for the Lakers here.
The schedule down the stretch is not favorable. They have
the Clippers, Thursday, Roub, I'm gonna assume Lebron's back for
that right. It's tough. I think because it's a back
to BA, You're more likely to see him against Portland
(22:02):
because because that would be a game that I would
consider more of a must win. They're not going to
catch the Clippers in the standing, so it doesn't really
matter if they beat them or not. It is at Staples,
but the Lakers Portland's game is a swing game either
way because that's a full game winner lose. That's a
fair point. Okay, So Clippers Thursday in the national TeV
(22:23):
game Portland's Phoenix, which is currently half a game behind
the Jazz at the top of the West. The Knicks,
who I think I'm gonna do a couple of minutes
on I have to. I've had too many of my
Knicks fans buddies being like, yo, respect the Knicks talk
about Julius Randall. Okay, I will in a minute. After
the Knicks they have a back to back with Houston,
the worst team in the league. That's a perfect game
(22:45):
to rest a d and Lebron and let Andre Drummond
and Horton Tucker go against Kevin Porter and company in Houston.
Then the Lakers have Indiana and New Orleans. Now that's
a back to back Houston. I'm sorry, Indiana New Orleans
are closed the season. The Pelicans would be out of
the playoff race, so they may just rest their guys
and the Lakers can kind of, you know, be have
(23:05):
Lebron in a d on a minute restriction. But it's
looking to me, Rob, based on that schedule. And then
you make a good point, maybe they wrest Lebron against
the Clippers so he can play against Portland's But then
Lebron will have not played since Sunday and he plays
again on Friday. I don't know. That's a tough one.
I mean, without Truder, I don't think they're beating the
(23:27):
Clips without Truder and Lebron. I'm sorry, I don't think
they're beating the Clippers. Um. As good as the defense
was against Denver, Clippers are another animal. They're shockingly one
of the best three point shooting teams in the league.
But I can pretty confidently say Rob that I think
the Lakers end up with the five, and then you're
looking at the Clippers at three, and so the Lakers
(23:50):
would play Denver in the first round, we both agree
it's a win. And then in the second round they
would play Utah or Phoenix, unless you know, the Warriors
get crazy hot or something. I'm curious before we get
to the next Jazz versus the Suns, who would you
rather play? Who do you think would give the Lakers
(24:10):
more trouble? They're about equal. Um. I think that Utah
would give the Lakers more trouble only because they have
experience in the postseason. Like you know, that's something that
you just can't duplicate. It doesn't matter whether or not
you're a better team versus one or the other. When
two teams are comparable, you usually go with the team
that has the skins on the wall, so to speak.
And and Phoenix only has Chris Paul and Jay Crowder,
(24:34):
and Chris Paul is just as likely to pull a
hammy as he is to hit a big shot against you.
It's a good point. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
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I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Regarding Clutch real quick, but did I change your mind
(25:00):
at all? On Drummond I mean, I get what you're
saying on KCP. I don't know what the alternative was, um,
like who else was out there? Who could they have gotten?
And then you've also got to remember, hey, we've got
to kind of keep Laurn happy. He came to the Lakers.
They want a freaking title. He does what he's doing
as a GM. Um. I don't think it's the worst
(25:20):
thing in the world that they that they kept KCP.
I mean no, I mean, and I should clarify the
k CP signing. You you had to overpake as the
Clutch tacts. The Mantres Harold signing was to me, screamed
regular season signing because they think they do. You think
that the Mantras Harold thing, any factor at all had
to be whoa the Clippers went into last year better
(25:44):
than us on paper? They fall apart in the bubble.
We can steal their sprim running sixth man, who was
kind of their energy guy, Like, who was the tough
guy on the Clippers last year? I mean, Mantras Harold
was one of the lead guys talking ship to Luca.
Remember what do you say, take that ship? White boyers punk?
So Montres Harold is like He was like, I don't
(26:05):
want to say the heart and soul because lou Williams
was kind of half that um. But if you can
rip that away from your Crosstown Rifles, if you're gonna
need to play the Clippers, nobody in that locker room
is gonna be as motivated as Montres Harold, not even Lebron.
And remember I still think Lebron is and again I
have nothing to back this up other than pure obviousness.
(26:26):
Lebron is probably still a little bit pissed at Kauai
for not joining him in l A and instead plucking
Paul George and then coming at the King. Well, you
know the same from the wire. You come at the King,
you best not miss. And Kauai has done nothing but
shoot blanks with play off Paul George, and now he
lost pretty much his bodyguard in Montrese Harold, who's like
(26:46):
the tough guy on the Clippers. He still has one
of the morrist brothers, but let's just say they cancel
each other out given the Lakers have one. I'm not
afraid of the Clippers in the West. If I'm the Lakers, yeah,
I wouldn't be there in a playoff setting. At least
in the regular season. And yes, because the Lakers have
zero wing defenders to defend Paul George and Kauai So
in a regular season matchup, of course, But I guess
(27:07):
to summarize the whole rat that I want over about
four minutes to be clarified in one statement, the Lakers
issues were that they were not playing their best center
because of a clutch loyalty, so to speak, because Lebron
and a d wanted Andre Drummond, their foreigner drummer was
gonna play, whether he's fit or not, because they decided
they wanted him. Mantrez Harrold was going to play because
(27:29):
he's a clutch client. And the last thing you want
to do if you're the Lakers is to piss off
clutch sports, because half your roster's clutched sports. So because
of that, their best team was never on the floor,
which included Marc gasol so, which included at Science West Matthews.
But because Ben McLamore, again another clutch guy, even though
(27:49):
he's brand new making tons of mistakes, He's gonna get
the opportunity to make those mistakes because of the fact
that he was brought in by Lebron and na D.
So I think for the Lakers to get the we
need to go. They need to decide. I didn't just
Frank Vogels the man up and say I'm gonna play
who gives me the best chance to win and stop
with the politics, and I'm going through right now the
last few weeks. You know, uh, friend of the podcast,
(28:12):
Cuffs the legend. He famously obviously close to Lebron. We
don't know how close. I'm not going to speculate. You know,
it's pretty clear Lebron like follows him on Instagram and
likes his stuff in comments and whatever, and on Twitter
as well. Cuffs the legend last postseason went in on
(28:32):
Danny Green repeatedly, we are shipping Davy Green FedEx out
of town the second the parades over. I mean he
was saying it from like early in the playoffs Danny
Green got Jettison. Cuffs the legend has been saying it's
about West Matthews frequently. Now West, I listen, I don't.
I'm not gonna pretend like I've watched West Matthews very closely.
(28:55):
He's a veteranting He's supposed to be a three and
D guy. Um, I don't know, but I don't think
Wesley Matthews is a fifteen minute a game guy in
the playoffs to you, no, but I think he's someone
I would count on a hell of a lot more
than Ben McLamore because even if his shots not falling,
which McLamore shot wasn't falling last night, at least West
Matthews can defend and Ben mcmore it's just a shooter,
(29:17):
that's about it. More likely to have a splash game
in the playoffs, the way we expect who's going to
have one point game? Marcasoul will have a game. I
think one of the Morris twin. Yes, I'm still gonna
call it the Morris twin. Um had a game in
the playoffs where he went bananas and heet like four
(29:37):
threes in the first half. More likely to have one
of those in the playoffs Matthews or McLamore. McLamore because
I think he can just can just gonna shoot. You know,
he's gonna shoot, He's all he is. He may also
give up like three layups on the other end and
blow a bunch of defensive coverages. But if he gets hot,
he gets hot, and the thing is in the postseason.
(29:59):
If it's especially right now down the stretch when you
need to win these games, you want the guy who's
less likely to make a bonehead mistake. Yeah, I remember
was there was a game might have been against Brooklyn
where he came in and was just I mean just
pop pop pop pop, just firing like he was just
trigger happy. Um. I mean he's fearless, that's what he says.
(30:21):
He's really is a j R. Smith without you know,
all the cockiness. He's just pure shooter. Um. Ultimately, I
think the Lakers are fine. I just want to quickly,
Rob let me do two minutes on the New York Knicks.
I need to give a shout out to the Knicks.
After they went over the Grizzlies on Monday, the New
York Knicks secured a playoff spot. Why is that a
(30:45):
big deal. Well, as a fan of the Knicks, I
can tell you they have one playoff series win this
century okay, twenty NBA seasons. Since the year two thousand,
they have one playoff series win. Came against Boston. Um
they lost in the next round to Indiana. They lost.
(31:07):
It was Paul George David West Um some grimy Indiana
teams that end up getting run out by the heat.
But the Knicks have been putrid, unwatchable and embarrassment this century.
And Rob, this is the weirdest thing. They're really good
this year thanks to Thibodeau and of course Julius Randall,
who's playing lights out, is going to be all NBA
(31:29):
second or third team. It's not a team that's easy
to fall in love with. I don't know what it is.
Like Julius Randol's playing his ass off, He's ridiculous. But Rob, like,
you know how, like there's an underdog team that will
come up. I'll never forget when the Warriors came up.
They had the Splash Brothers Moniker, before Draymond was a thing.
(31:50):
It was Clay and Curry, and they like they would
just be fun to watch. It would just be jacking
up threes and they were like exciting. And the seven
seconds or less Sons team came out of nowhere. I
know it's sacrilegious to say as as a Knicks fan
from the first NBA game I went to in but
(32:11):
this team is like not that exciting to watch a
Derrick Rose had a monster game against the Grizzlies, you know.
I mean, I don't loved Rose the way everybody else
seems to. He's like a cult hero. I won't understand it. Rob.
There's two cult heroes that I just don't get, Carmelo
Anthony and Derrick Rose. I don't totally get an Ellis
(32:32):
and Rose when he was healthy before the knees was magical.
I mean, I I was incredible. I'll never forget his
first playoff series against Boston and he just lit him.
He might have been rookie and he just went ape
ship on the Celtics, Derrick Rose torturing him. And now
Derrick Ross is like, I mean, he can't shoot and
he just attacks the rim and like lays it in
and he had a couple of threes the other night
(32:54):
yet last night. But like Julius Randall, Reggie Bullock, Alfred
Paint and Obi Toppin is barely playing Like Alex Burke's
is a guy. I like r J. Barrett. He's playing well, um,
but he's like a distant second to Randall, who's just
really good. But I don't know, Man, he's on like
his third team. Rob, So it doesn't I don't know.
(33:17):
I can't put my finger on it. But this isn't
a Nix team that I like, absolutely love, like say
that Jeremy Lynn Nix, you know, which I was really
excited about. They were fun to watch an underdog. Um.
I don't know. Maybe it's just that they're automatically gonna
get waxed by the number one seed in the second round,
whether it's the Nets or the or the Sickistors. You know,
(33:37):
it's also the fact that they play a defensive style
of basketball that is not visually appealing. That that could
be another big part of it. I mean, Julius Randalls
should be what second team All NBA maybe, so you
should ask you should be happy about that? I am, um,
but you're right, it might be that defensive rand of basketball.
And listen, it's funny because when I coach my kids,
(34:00):
I stress defense. I'm like, listen, if you guys ever
think you're gonna get to like an AU team or
some kind of high school basketball team freshman years, whatever
it is, you're gonna do it with defense. If you
can't play defense, you've gotta have no chance to get
in the game. You know. Defense isn't fun, nobody wants
to practice it, but you gotta move move those puppies
on defense and stop somebody. And you know, you trill
(34:24):
it in as much as you want. And no kids
want to play defense. Everybody just wants to go jack
up shots. I know my role, rob Gie. I've been
playing some buckets. So I'll close out with a fun
story for the few dads who play pick up basketball
with me. And notice, so we started playing pick up
games and this one big dude brought a friend once
and he's a lefty. He's kind of a slow motion
(34:46):
type lefty. Um, and he's good inside and now he's long,
so he's a good defender. And you know, he's playing
really well, like it's four on four. So the number
one guy, you know, is the number one option. He's
like the perfect number two right. Um, he plays defense
and he can run, you know, point, he hustles. He's
just a smart player. And he actually turns out he's
(35:07):
from my area. I got the normal over in outside
of d C. And so the time before last I
texted his friend, the guy who regular, and I said,
you know, I want to guard him. I haven't guarded
him yet, and I think I've watched his game. I'm
the kind of guy who I'll study tendencies and pick
it up. And remember, I know this guy likes to
do this. So we were matched up against each other
(35:28):
and I said to the guy, yeah, I don't say anything.
I got him and like four possessions that I'm hounding him.
I'm I'm like denying the ball. Tom Thibodeau has this
stuff like you gotta play hardcore defense. And the guy
does nothing in the game. He scores one bucket and
it wasn't on me, and it was a game winner.
It was like on a fast break. I wasn't even
(35:49):
down there. And I said, I said, I told you
I would guard him. And then we played again and
he had one bucket again that's it. And and again
I'm not trying to brag and say I'm a great defender,
but I know my role, Like I'm not gonna be
the point guard running the pick and roll. Like there's
younger guys who do that. Okay, there are former high
school fringe D three guys who do that. They are
(36:10):
to pick up game, and I just I know my role.
If I could defend and I'm gonna get i don't know,
five or six shots in a game to eleven and
if I could make three of them, three of six,
there is seven three of it. Whatever, boom, that's a
win for me. Lockdown defense, and that's what the Knicks
are doing. Basically, they're saying Julius Randall's or Alpha, He's
gonna play all the minutes. R J. Barrett, we need
(36:32):
you to uh, you know, rebound, play defense and make
a couple of threes. And then Derrick rose Burke's quickly.
We need you guys off the bench to deliver. That's
our recipe. And if you look at the Knicks like
they all they know their roles, they're defined, and I
think maybe that be a might be a gripe of yours,
Rob With the Lakers. I'm guessing here is that with
(36:54):
seven games left in the regular season, the Lakers don't
really have defined roles. Is that a problem for you, Yes, yes,
it is. You was like you're reading my mind. It
feels like I just I guess with the depth, you know,
with the Knicks they have like five six guys. You know,
Lakers have like ten or eleven guys. I mean, I
will not be shocked if Andre Drummond has a did
(37:14):
not play coach's decision in a playoff game. It's all
matchup dependent. I mean, who do you trust more in
a playoff series, Andre Drummond h Montres hero On a
playoff series Montres Herold of course. Yeah. So I mean,
like Drummond could be excited for you know, getting on
a on a team and Clutch helped him out. But
I mean I hope he's not gonna go chirping in
the playoffs, like, hey, guys, you know, can I get
(37:36):
the minutes? You know, like, dude, part of being on
the Lebron team is being quiet. Take off the warm
up jersey when told to get in the game, hustle,
you know, like, don't rock, don't rock the vote. Um,
all right, So anyways, I'm bullish on the Lakers. Rob.
If I asked you today who comes out of the West,
(37:58):
who plays in the Western Cup Finals? Who you got Lakers, Clippers,
Lakers going to the finals, I would say that's accurate.
I give the Jazz very little chance against the Clips.
For some reason, I think that the Suns could give
him health. With Bridges and Crowder on the wing. I
(38:21):
think those are two good defenders of Chris Paul if
you can stay healthy. Um, and I don't know. I mean,
do you put Kawai on Devin Booker? Do you put
Kauai and Chris Paul? Well, Kawai doesn't defend like he
used to. We talked about this before, and I mean
once he became who's our defender, Reggie Jack. Paul George
has been has been taking the best of the best
player offensively interesting. I'm sorry, Paul George. You've got a
(38:44):
lot to prove in the playoffs after last season. Anyways,
all right, we got a good guest coming up tomorrow. Guys,
enjoy the games. We'll talk to you then.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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