Rafael Barlowe from NBA Draft Junkies, and LakerTom from lakerholics.com stop by to talk about the Lakers 112-102 victory over the Houston Rockets, Miami winning their series over Milwaukee 3 games to 1, and Billy Donovan and OKC parting ways.
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Presented by our friends at NBA Draft Junkies, lakerholics.com, Pop Culture Cosmos, Zero Cool Films, the novel Congratulations, You Suck (available for purchase HERE), and Retro City Games!
Fun podcast by Gerald, Rafael, and me celebrating the Lakers win, the Bucks going fishing, and Billy Donovan looking for a new job. And Gerald finally admitting what Rafael and me knew, which is that Playoff Rondo is for real.
Also hear about the other great moves Frank Vogel made by benching McGee, doubling Harden, and finally playing real small ball with 5-out sets to unclog the paint in the second half. Great to see Frank make the changes I and others have been screaming for him to make. Better later than never.
While he should start Rondo, McGee’s minutes have been reduced to irrelevance. Lakers finally going and playing small to match up with Rockets. Should be the blueprint to beat the Clippers and Heat too. Unleashes LeBron and AD to attack the rim and LeBron to punish Tucker in the low post.
Great discussion dudes! I think the real key for the Lakers has been the improved focus on defense and getting guys in motion when Rondo or LeBron have the ball at the top of the key and along the perimeter. When we score easy buckets like that off the pass it opens up the entire offense. Houston has no adjustments to make, hoping we can wrap this up in 6 (I’m still of the opinion that Russ, James, et al have one more great game in ’em).
Playoff Rondo is real…today. The truth is Rondo can be as streaky as any other player on our team not named LeBron James or Anthony Davis. I’m a big Rondo fan, wanted him on the team since the breakfast he and Kobe shared all those years ago, and he’s been the leader on the team I always hoped. His statistical impact goes up and down. My fear is in one of the next 2 games he’ll have one of those 2-9 shooting (0-fer from three) and more turnovers than assists kind of games. I expect Houston to blitz Rondo in a manner similar to what we’ve been doing to Harden. They’ll force Rondo to shoot or make impossible passes, if they’re smart.
One wonders if McGee was “benched” or if his ankle acted up and Vogel stuck with what had worked in game. By that I mean is it an actual adjustment or is it more of a ‘going with a hot hand’ and we could easily see more minutes from either big if shots aren’t falling and the Rockets have a layup line going. Our great defense is a bigger reason that the offensive spacing for the switch is what I mean to say. LeBron’s magnificent defense, Rondo’s audibles on switching up the look and the overall blueprint the coaches have laid out is what is driving the rotation more than who is making shots, in my opinion.
Having said that, I said after game 1 this is bad series for Dwight, he doesn’t handle annoying well, gets whistled for silly fouls and a lot of Rockets check those boxes. He’s a better rim protector than JaVale is but McGee does better on the perimeter in regards to defending without fouling. Going to be interesting to see if Vogel sticks with what worked in games 2 and 3 or tries to go back to his old rotation in game 4 and beyond. I don’t consider it a lock that he has evolved his thinking or embraced the 5 out sets. I think that we’re switching up looks as much as anything else and I expect to se a combo attack in the next game.
All in all, I’m for whatever wins the game. If JaVale sits, cool. If Dwight plays 45 minutes, great. Buncha little dudes and AD? Fine. 5 out sets? Sure, if the shots are falling. Long as we can tack that W up and reduce the number from 10 to 9 on Thursday the manner in which we arrive there doesn’t really matter. Style points don’t count for much in my book.