Lakers Lounge

Houston as a sports city owed Los Angeles one and hooooooo, boy, this feels good. Anthony starts with a very quick rant on the subject, then, he, Raj and Harrison relive the game, celebrate some of its individual performances and just generally sit in this moment for a nice little while.

Anthony opens the show with some, uh, honest thoughts about the city of Houston. From there, he, Harrison and Raj try to figure out how that game turned out the way it did.

Kevin Durant has been allowed to slide for bad situation after bad situation and this one is coming to a head. The guys discuss how it is Durant has just happened to land in these tough spots. Surely he has nothing to do with it whatsoever.

Rui Hachimura has launched plenty of takes during his time as a Laker but once again, he's risen to the moment in the playoffs. So Anthony asks Harrison and Raj about whether this run has changed their minds on a potential Rui return. The wrap with some final thoughts about the series.

Anthony and Pete react to the reports that Austin Reaves could potentially be returning as soon as tonight in game three. How would that look? How likely do they feel it is? Which adjustments do the Rockets have? Do the Lakers have counterpunches? All of that and a ton more.

Anthony and Pete go through the things they're looking for as the series heads back to Houston, now potentially with Austin Reaves involved and likely with Reed Sheppard playing a larger role for the Rockets.

Anthony and Pete quickly hit on the NBA refereeing discourse over the last couple days, then turn their attention back to this series to wonder whether the Lakers can actually end this series as quickly as possible.

Anthony and Harrison spend this extra off day adding to the discourse about NBA refereeing after Devin Booker went on a great tirade on the subject. Anthony makes the case this is the NBA's actual biggest problem and explains why it, like most things, reflects poorly on Adam Silver's leadership. After that discussion, the guys explain what's impressed them most about this Lakers-Rockets series.

Anthony plays a snippet of Devin Booker's rant about refereeing last night and that launches the guys into their discussion on the subject. Refereeing is bad, but, as they explain, the refs themselves are put in impossible situations.

Anthony explains how he'd fix refereeing in the NBA: If a rule or the interpretation of that rule would start a fight in a pickup game, then it's a bad rule and needs to be tweaked.

Anthony and Harrison haven't spoken on the pod since this series started, so they give their quick thoughts on what has impressed them most about the Lakers' performance thus far. More importantly than that, Harrison tells the story of his recent attempt at gambling that absolutely brought tears to Anthony's eyes.

Raj has been living out his dream this year, and is capping off that experience with covering playoff games in person. He and Anthony talk about the 2-0 lead the Lakers have earned, what's made it possible, where the Lakers might go from here and everything in-between.

Anthony talks to Raj about the various advantages the Lakers have built for themselves in this series, from leadership to physicality to even the crowd, this has been a fantastic start to the postseason.

The guys poke a little fun at Ime Udoka, discuss Deandre Ayton outplaying Alperen Sengun and celebrate Raj's shoutout from Brian Windhorst.

The Lakers did it again. They beat the Rockets, this time with Kevin Durant in the lineup. Anthony recaps the game, marvels at LeBron James' performance, celebrates the Marcus Smart/Luke Kennard combination and answers questions form the live audience -- who happened to provide the perfect Alperen Sengun comp.

The Lakers won this game and Anthony just can't help but marvel at what LeBron James is doing in this series at this age.

Anthony asked the live audience for Alperen Sengun comps and one listener absolutely took him out. This happened while Anthony was answering questions from the live audience and heaping praise on the Lakers' current starting backcourt.

The Lakers once again received zero final nominations for award season, so the guys discuss the actually nominees and why the Lakers continue to sit on the outside looking in on those conversations. The Lakers are, however, on the inside looking ahead in these playoffs. The guys discuss game one, the adjustments they're looking for and whether that first game changed how they feel about this team...

Anthony, Pete and Jovan give their thoughts on the Lakers unsurprisingly remaining on the outside looking in of award season.

The Lakers have things they can clear up, but on top of that, a series is often defined by the adjustments from game to game either team can make. Anthony asks Jovan and Pete what they're both looking for in game two.

At one point in the game, the Lakers threw all their athletes out there at the same time to try to attack Houston's athleticism. It definitely caught Anthony and Pete's attention in a good way, and Jovan's in a somewhat different way. Also tucked within this episode: A joke from Anthony that took Jovan out.

Loaded show as fans are back tuned in after the big game one win. Anthony reacts to no Lakers once again getting nominations as finalists for awards. He then looks ahead to next season and beyond to try to figure out what it would take for that trend to be snapped, including expanding the voting pool from the group who have established it in the first place. From there, he answers questions from t...

We talkin' nominations. Not awards. Not awards. We talkin' nominations. The Lakers are the marquee franchise, and we talkin' nominations.

A listener asked a question about Cade Cunningham's candidacy for MVP and it sent Anthony down another rant about the Spurs being the league and league voters' darlings.

Luke Kennard played really well in game one. Some fans have used that as an excuse to bring back the conversation of trading Austin Reaves. Anthony wonders what's going on there, then goes on a bit of a rant against player-centric agendas vs. what's best for the Lakers (his focus).