Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

Well, at least they didn't lose by 18.  Instead, after a strong first half the Lakers were again overwhelmed in the second, and lost Game 3 to the visiting Thunder, 131-108. This time, it was the team's stars that simply couldn't get it going. Both Austin Reaves and LeBron James struggled -- Austin was 5-13 from the floor, and LeBron was 7-19, and while they had 17 assists between them, they also...

When analysts note the big plans for LA's upcoming offseason, it's often in the context of opening up large amounts of cap space for Rob Pelinka and Co. to fill with a host of players that complement Luka Dončić. When people talk about maximizing the amount of money available, it means chucking virtually everything that can be tossed overboard. That's all the expiring contracts, and maybe some dea...

On the one hand, the Lakers played very hard, and they made a good game of Thursday's Game 2 in Oklahoma City.  On the other, in the end, the Lakers still lost by 18. Again. Final score, 125-107.  The game was more competitive than the final score would indicate, but the final score still indicates the Thunder won pretty comfortably. For the Lakers, there were some genuine bright spots. LeBron Jam...

Ok, everyone knows what happened in Game 1. The Lakers weren't necessarily bad, but they weren't nearly good enough, either. So what has to change for Game 2?  For starters, Austin Reaves doesn't just have to be better, he needs to be much, much, MUCH better. But what else? With Jarred Vanderbilt almost surely sidelined and even Luke Kennard now on the injury list, the Lakers are going to have to...

Lakers fans hoping for a miracle got some disappointing news Wednesday when Luka Donćić met the media in Oklahoma City, and poured some cold water on the prospect of returning in this series. It's not gonna happen. Luka didn't say it explicitly, but made clear that the timeline for the injury when it happened was eight weeks. The hope was to speed it up with the PRP and fancy treatments, but it's...

The Lakers already had a depth problem in their matchup against the Thunder, something that was very clear in Tuesday's Game 1 loss. Oklahoma City has far more players they can deploy confidently over the course of a game, with a deeper variety of skill sets to choose from. And now things get a little worse for LA, as Jarred Vanderbilt is expected to miss time after suffering a dislocated pinkie f...

The Lakers as a team weren't particularly bad (individual players, most importantly Austin Reaves, certainly were) but that's not necessarily all that encouraging, because in the end they lost 108-90 in a game they hung in for a while but never really had even an ounce of real control.  And to make it worse, the Thunder didn't seem to do anything special, either. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn't go...

In Part I of our preview of the Lakers vs. Oklahoma City, we asked Rylan Styles, host of Locked On Thunder, to break down the strengths and (relative) weaknesses of the Thunder.  How does missing Jalen Williams impact things? When they lose, why does it happen? Where might the Lakers look to attack?  In Part II, we take Rylan's questions about the Lakers. How do they operate without Luka? What doe...

Look, everyone knows the deal, here. The Thunder are massive favorites to beat the Lakers in the second round of the NBA Playoffs.  And they should be!  But what can the Lakers do to try and push OKC? To make it a longer series than expected, and maybe -- just maybe... -- turn it into something shocking? We unpack the series with Rylan Styles, host of Locked On Thunder. Now unlike our conversation...

There's no way around it. The Lakers are considered huge long shots to win this series against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. That might still be understating the perceived odds LA is battling. You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody not wearing a Lakers uni even remotely talking up the chance of an upset. And that even includes Lakers fans, many of whom the Kamenetzky Brothers have h...

The Lakers made it through Round 1 without Luka Dončić and for 2/3 of the series, without Austin Reaves.  Against OKC in Round 2, they'll have Austin back, but Luka is nowhere near ready to play, still without a timetable and not doing anything approaching true on court work at speed. And given how fast this series will move -- it's an every other day affair -- there's a very good chance Luka won'...

The Lakers were disappointed by the results of Game 5 at home Wednesday night, and knew moving back to Houston they'd need a much better Game 6 to eliminate the Rockets.  And that's what they got.  The Lakers used a good-enough offense, with low turnovers (10) and good 3-point shooting (12-28, 43%) in combination with an excellent defense -- the Rockets shot 35% from the floor and weren't a force...

  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky   SEGMENT 1: Can LeBron go LeBron for Game 6? SEGMENT 2: Can Austin Reaves be a star on Friday? SEGMENT 3: Amen Thompson is making life hard for Luke Kennard.   Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most...

Generally speaking, in the NBA Playoffs if your stars aren't stars, you're not going to win.  Now, sometimes they're stars and you lose anyway. But rarely do they falter and the team still advances. So that's the position the Lakers are in LeBron James was pretty good (but not spectacular) and had a couple key turnovers. Austin Reaves did some good stuff, leading the team in assists and making 12...

Game 5 was not a good one for the Lakers, especially offensively.  And while Austin Reaves did score 22 points, most of it came from the free throw line. His ineffectiveness from the field (4-16 shooting) was a drag on the performance of the offense as a while. It's easy to understand why - parachuting into a series after a long layoff isn't easy - but the circumstances don't necessarily matter. T...

The Lakers came home for Game 5 Friday badly wanting to put their series against the Houston Rockets, and in the first quarter at least looked like they might get it done.  But in the second... and for the rest of the game... the Lakers basically fell into the same patterns that defined the second half of Game 3, and all of Game 4. Momentum killing turnovers, a total lack of shotmaking, particular...

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky  Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!  5-Hour...

Houston has a long way to go, but they're still in it at least.  The Lakers would like to fix that on Wednesday. They want to take no chances, and not even entertain a situation where they could become the first team to lose a 3-0 lead in a playoff series. There's a good chance they throw everything they have at the Rockets, including Austin Reaves who is expected to return to the lineup after inj...

There are all sorts of different signposts along the path towards building a team in the offseason, whether in the trade or free agent markets. But things can shift as you go from point A to B to C. One of the big ones? The playoffs. Think about last season, when major injuries to Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton radically changed the plans for the Celtics and Pacers respectively, and added moti...

Game 4 wasn't much fun to watch, that's for sure, but like the pros do, sometimes you have to go back and review stuff.  So where did the Lakers go wrong?  Looking back at the ... action, it was pretty clear first and foremost the Lakers were playing on tired legs. But it's also clear the Rockets have changed up enough things that the Lakers, after six very cold quarters, need to respond. They nee...

The Lakers looked tired on Sunday in Game 4, doing everything a step slower than they had been, with responses that were a hair less quick and shotmaking that was more than a hair less successful. All of that was enough to lead to a turnover fueled blowout loss.  As is often the case in the playoffs, one game can make people feel a lot different about a series. And had Game 4 happened in Game 1, p...

Everyone was wondering what it might look like if Houston finally found the range offensively while the Lakers went cold.  The answer: a 115-96 Game 4 loss to the Rockets in Houston.  It was an ugly set of outputs for the Lakers, who were obviously trying (it's the playoffs) but didn't have a lot of juice. The scoring collapsed. The turnovers (24, overall) were frequent. The defense wasn't great....

How did that happen? People will be trying to figure out exactly what happened for a while, but the bottom line is this: Down six without the ball and under :30 seconds left to play, the Lakers managed to tie the game and then win it in OT. They beat the Houston Rockets in Houston, 112-108 to take a 3-0 lead in the series.  They'll try to close it out Sunday in Houston.  LeBron James led the way w...

Before the team headed out to Houston for Friday's Game 3, center Deandre Ayton met with the media and talked about his excitement not just at playing defense in this series, but playing incredibly versatile defense, not just against centers but one through five on switches. Ayton does move well in space, and obviously needs to prove his ability to follow through and do this at a high level, but m...

The Lakers, already riding high with a 2-0 lead in their series against the Houston Rockets as the show travels to Texas for Friday's Game 3, got a nice boost with the news that Austin Reaves, out with an oblique injury, has been upgraded to Questionable. That doesn't mean he'll play - and with the series lead the Lakers might choose to give him a little more time to heal, even if he could suit up...