THE NBA IS ON FIRE! JOKIC | SGA | LUKA

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This is Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA and Lockdown Heat with a message from Dell. Dell PCs with Intel Insider are built for the moments that you plan for, and the ones you don't. The moments that you're working from a cafe and realize, every outlet's taken, or the times that you're deep in your flow and can't be interrupted for an auto update. That's why Dell builds tech that adapts to you, with long lasting battery and built an intelligence that makes updates around your schedule, not in the middle of it. Find technology built for the way you work at Dell.com slash XPS. Built for you. This is Nick Gangstead with the Lockdown Mavericks podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my high yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can apply for Apple Card too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone, subject to

1:00credit approval, savings is available to Apple Card owner, subject to eligibility, savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more at Apple Card.com. Anything and everything you could have asked for this night provided, y'all, the NBA is on fire, Luca, Shay, Yokech, there were so many great performances. I don't even know where to start. This is going to be an action pack episode of Lockdown NBA Game Night. I got David, you got Swiper, y'all know what time it is. Let's get straight to it, let's go. When that final buzzer rings, you know it's time for a Lockdown NBA Game Night, all the post-game reactions to every game across the league, every single night, with insights only the hosts that Lockdown can provide. It's the true NBA fans, one stop for all the action. Every game, every night, it's Lockdown NBA Game Night, tipping off now.

2:06What's going y'all? Welcome to Lockdown NBA Game Night. I'm one of your host Swiper here with David, with Lockdown Heat, y'all know what time it is. This is going to be an extra special show because when I woke up this morning, David, I did not expect that three of the best players in the world were going to have three great performances to just show how special this league has been. David, I can't wait. This was a special night of NBA basketball. They all are, but you know what, this one is particular. There was a lot of good games out there. A matchup of some two Western conference contentors, it should be a really fun show. Let's get to it. Yeah, I can't wait to get to it, y'all. Make sure that y'all like, share, subscribe, on the YouTube side. If you are listening to this on Apple Live, Tunes, Spotify, give it a five star of you. That way more and more people can listen to the great content, baiting here at Lockdown NBA game night. But y'all, we got to get into O.K.C. versus the Boston Celtics. That was a game and y'all know, let's listen to what they got to say from Lockdown Celtics

3:11about how today's game went. Alice of the Lockdown Celtics have the three in the air to beat the thunder? No, it didn't fall in the thunder when I'm John Corralis of the Lockdown Celtics podcast. It was a great ATO by Joe Mizzula. It just didn't fall in the Celtics this close to beating the Oklahoma City Thunder too much SGA as usual. Celtics got a great game from Jalen Brown, although not really efficient. They didn't have Jason Tatum. They didn't have Derek White. They didn't have Nicola Vuchavitch. So there are arguments to be made that the Celtics may have been able to pull this game out if they had their full complement. But they didn't and what really was impressive was everybody else that stepped up, Ugo Gonzalez was great, Baylor Shireman, Jordan Walsh, the typical kind of bench unit, the guys that have stepped up all season long did a great job in this game.

4:14There's nothing really discouraging about this loss. This one, the loss to the San Antonio Spurs, I think there's so much more positive to take out of these two games, the negative, considering the circumstances. So the Celtics, I think, can come out of this. I know they went one and two in the road trip. The losses were to the Western Conference teams, so they're still in good position in the East. Overall, tough, their games could have been won and you want to win them, but tip your cap to the other team. It looks to a lot of positive things, and I'll be talking about that on the lockdown Celtics podcast. Well, David, this was a very good game, you know, obviously SGA who is more than likely going to win MVP this year at 35 points. He also had three straight, huge buckets in the fourth quarter, Chet Horgrim and say they'll put the game away with the free throws. But then on the Celtics Todd, you know, with all the injuries that they've had, obviously, you know, no Tatum today, Jalen Brown was able to still put up 34 points again, only

5:1610 to 25 from the field, but playing versus a very good defense. He was 13 to 14 from the free throw line. Peyton Pritchard had a three right before to half ended, but no other Celtic had more than 20 points today. What was some of your takeaways from O.K.C versus Boston? Well, I'm going to show out to SGA for putting up historic numbers there. We're seeing history on many occasions this week, but able to surpass Paul Trameland for most consecutive 20 plus point games, so that was a huge point in tonight's matchup. But as far as Oklahoma City, I think they just did a pretty good job of limiting the bench guys. And, you know, Corralis makes a good point that maybe there's some encouragement to be taken from this, but I'm not sure I see it to be honest with you. The way it looks to me is that, yeah, you've got a lot of bench depth, and yeah, they can step up and contribute, but the season's only going to go as far as how well Jason Tatum can continue to play and get into shape over the course of the season. And obviously Brown has had a monster game and a monster season. He's going to get all NBA honors deservedly.

6:19But at the same time, I think there are still questions about just how good this team can be over the next few weeks of the season, and whether or not they can emerge in the East as a true contender. Yeah, I think, you know, John talking about some of the things that didn't go their way today, but you know, one of the things as well as the Celtics were only 13 to 42 from the three point line versus O.K.C. Now, O.K.C, they have a very good three point defense, so that's not something that, you know, you're not going to get a lot of great looks versus them, but O.K.C. on the other end, they were only 11 of 44 to Naya. And so this is actually like, I'm curious to see how the Celtics continue to morph into this new version of themselves since Tatum is back in the lineup, not having Derek White as a big deal versus the team like O.K.C. because the more ball handlers you have, and the more defenders you can put on the floor, I think that changes a lot of things. So instead of having like, you know, Hugo Gonzalez or Peyton Pritchard or Bayer-Shilman or your Sam Halzer even trying to guard SGA if they're bringing him up into action, which is what they were doing constantly, then you can have Derek whiteen a lot of those things.

7:21And that way you kind of at least mitigate to the best of your ability like the teams opposing on ball defender, because Jalen Brown, you know, he was taking up the assignment, but just the way that O.K.C. is built, I personally, David, the way that SGA is playing right now as a one-on-one player, you know, if you're getting him an ISO towards the end of a game, it's just not smart because if he's in the middle of the floor and he's not playing versus somebody that's like big or long or like super-range, at least in a regular season right now, he's kind of having his weight in one-on-one defense. And so I, for me, I would just much rather gamble. They made a gamble on Alex Caruso. They went and left Alex, Alex did like a, you know, triple the ball for that he stepped back, shot a three, missed it, but then they got a foul on the offense, rebound on shed at the rim. And I just think that's just a much better solution to the problem, because if you're going to end the game, if you're O.K.C., and you're going to have Caruso on the floor, or whoever you're worse shooter in, with Lou Dort, I'm going to make that person beat me as a post-SGA. Yeah, absolutely.

8:21But it's a good point. I mean, with Derek White out there, he probably would have done a little bit better of trying to challenge SGA, make things a little bit more difficult for him and maybe keep him off from going off the way he was like SGA, I mean, I have a great player. But you always want to have your top rumour defender out there for the Celtics, it just wasn't the case. Yeah, let's move on to the next game. So we got the Phoenix Suns, 123 over the Indiana Pacers, 108, and let's get into this from Lockdown Patriots, see how the game went. So the Suns, 123, 108 here in game, which filled us after returning from a road trip town east here with Lockdown Pacers. The story of this one for the Pacers, the debut of Yvice Zubats as an Indiana Pacer only played 16 minutes across the first half, 8.6 rebounds and two assists in this one for Zubats as he set a lot of really menacing screens. And the Pacers had to really focus on watching him get towards the basket, see if they could connect with him in those ways, a new style of big men for this team. The only starter from past seasons that played alongside him tonight was in Genemhard

9:24Nemhard, also the monster game with 23 points in the first half, those two only played in the first half, Pacers winning at times in those quarters, then those two not playing in the second half. They kept it close, but ultimately the Suns pulled it away late, Devon Booker 40, three points for Phoenix Pacers had few answers from that's 11 straight losses for the Pacers who still have the league's worst record, but Zubats of major focus, Jalen Slosson was quite good, well, much more on Lockdown Pacers. I'm always appreciated energy on that, shout out to Utoni, look, you know, the Pacers, this is all about them, making sure they get as high of a draft pick as possible and then putting as much talent in my entirely as Haliburton and Pascal, Siakim and Zubach for next season. But on Phoenix's end, a lot of people, if you're not aware, Phoenix is in the hunt to get to the 6C, they're currently only a game and a half out of the fifth seed, they're a game out of the sixth seed where the Minnesota Timberwolves are. I mean, David, do you think there's a world where they end up as a top sixth seed and push out one of Denver or the Rockets or the Lakers or the Minnesota Timberwolves down

10:26to the 7C? It's certainly possible. I mean, the Rockets have been pretty inconsistent. The Lakers defense continues to be a problem. The Nuggets, I think, obviously the strongest contender there, although Minnesota looks good on occasion too. They've lost three straights. So all these teams have question marks and look, I mean, the fact that Phoenix is doing that with Devon Booker returning to the light, I've been Dylan Brooks till that, but Jalen Green finding a way to step up, who knows to them, man, they've done a pretty good job. So I don't know. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks as the season wraps up here because Phoenix certainly has a chance. Absolutely. Last game before we get done with the segment of the Atlanta Hawks, they beat the Brooklyn Nets today as well. And the Atlanta Hawks don't look now. They're continuing to move up in their own right. Now on the other end, the Brooklyn Nets didn't play much of anybody, but the Hawks, 18 points from Nikola Zander. You get 21 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists from Jalen Johnson. And then Corey Kisper, 7 points on Yekka Kung Wu at 13 points and 9 rebounds. The Hawks, they're 35 and 31 and if you look at the standings, how they're shaping out,

11:31yo, like the Hawks are the AC and there is also a reality where they're a game and a half out of six and they might be able to catch the heat now. I doubt that happens, but it could happen. Oh, absolutely. I don't see any of those teams like, I mean, Cleveland, again, they've been a little up and down, 5 and 5 for the last 10 games. So I don't know, there are a couple games over the Orlando Magic at this point, but the Magic 1.6 straight, the heat of 1.7 straight, the Hawks of 1.8 straight, the Raptors are still in the mix. You know, that's a pretty tightly contested race there in the Eastern Conference. And any one of those teams can have a bad week or two, because you know, those standings should be all over the place. So we can see a very different rotation in the Eastern Conference standings by the end of the season. Look on the other side, we got to get to the comeback win of the day. The Rugged versus Spurs, that was a firework show, cannot wait to get into that. We'll be back for more here at Lockdown NBA Game Night. This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card, which

12:35can be automatically sent to my high yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can apply for Apple Card, too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone. The Rugged accredited approval savings is available to Apple Card owner subject to eligibility. Savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsman, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more at Applecard.com. College basketball is non-stop big game tight sprays, momentum swings every single night. From early tip-offs to late night West Coast shootouts, there's always action on the board. Now, FAN do is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit move. Look, this is a great thing. There's so much great basketball happening right now. You got AJ going off with BYU, you got Fleming going off, had a great game today, and then on top of that, you look at Arkansas. My dude, Derry is a cup.

13:36I think there's a world where they continue to surprise a lot of people once we get the tournament time. This is the best time to tap in with FAN do. So go safe, go bold, ride with the team you've been following all season, it's your parlay, your style. Now, with more upside behind it, head to fandall.com to get started, that's fandall.com. FANDALL, play your game. We'll be back for the second segment here at Lockdown in BYU game night. And we are back for the second segment here at Lockdown in BYU game night and y'all, I can't wait. What a game, 20 point deficit. The Denver Nuggets were down to the San Antonio Spurs. No Victor women, Yaman, no Aaron Gordon, still no Peyton Watson. This game was funky because the Nuggets could not buy a bucket in the first half.

14:38They were missing any and everything. There were four of 20 from the three point line. This first for 11 to 27 in the first half. Jamal had nothing going whatsoever. He had nine points. He was one of six. Yokich was the only one really has 17 points in 11 rebalons in the first half of three and six. He was really the only one that was getting off. But David brother, Jamal Murray in the second half has 30 points, 10 to 15 from the field, 16 points in the fourth quarter. Yokich in the third quarter had 14, 7, 4, 2 and 2. It had like a 98 true shooting, kept them at least in the game. Spencer Jones had a great game today. But the Nuggets, they come back from 20. They get yet another win and a back-to-back versus the Rockets and versus the Spurs to move further into the opportunity to get the three seed. They play the Lakers on Saturday to maybe be able to take the three seed on the other end, David. I'm not going to lie. If you, I don't know if you're a huge fan of the Fond Castle, but I love the Fond Castle.

15:42He's super aggressive. He's big. He's athletic. He doesn't stop. Yeah. 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists today and four of eight from the three-point line. He is a special player. Absolutely. This game was a lot more competitive than I expected to be, especially with a picture setting out the game, but it shots out to the castle. He's been phenomenal. The season, he continues to get better and he had a really big game. He's been a hell of a player to watch this season. Yeah. Absolutely. He's great. Is it a concern for you? Look, the Nuggets wind up winning the game. But to see them, we have to go down to the wire just to try to get past this first team with that weapon, Yama, out there. Any bit of a concern for you, or is you know what, at this point, it sees you take a win however you get them. No. I think the issue is, you know, the thing that's been a common phrase, even an okay KC games, they lost recently, the Nuggets starters have been winning their minutes versus all the teams they played, including OKC. The issues been the top of the second quarter, they have not been able to find a consistent

16:45rotation of players that can go into the game versus the other team best player, particularly their staggering, and then not at least give up a lead if not go down 8-10 points. So by the time Yokech does a lot of heavy lifting where they're like a plus two plus six plus eight, he gets back into the game. And now it's like, it's tied or a deficit, and that momentum, everything about what they did to build good habits has kind of gone away. And that's happened a lot lately. And today, the Nuggets, they went super small around Yokech was a super small lineup. David Adam and I think is really having a difficult time figuring out like who needs to play with who, and he's playing like Tyus Jones and a bunch of other people together. It's just a lot of inconsistencies. So I do think once they get paid back and once they get airing back, they can solidify like especially those non-Yokech minutes at the top of the second quarter, I think that's going to do a lot for what the team wants to do, but hey, look, they beaten the Celtics, they obviously beat the Rockets, they beaten the Spurs, they're taking care of business,

17:46they had two clutch losses to OKC. So like they're like there, they're just not fully themselves yet, you know? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, let's health concerns all, I'm affecting a number of teams. But you know what? That is a good thing that you can kind of hang your hand on, that you're still able to stay competitive and find your rhythm here. So it's a positive stretch for 10 minutes of time. Well, you know, actually, forget Denver, I don't want to talk about any of that. In fact, I didn't even realize this is a day later, brother, you're in Miami Heat, they beat the Bucks 112 to 105. And you know, everybody, I don't know if you've seen me online at all, because you probably know how I feel about BAM, I mean, I'm a very well known lover of who BAM is in a way he plays. He had 21.2, a 620 from the field, eight remounts, all that kind of stuff. First off, how do you feel the game went today? But then two, how do you feel all this crying online about BAM being the second highest score ever in a single game in NBA history? I think it's ridiculous. I think the crying about it, look, to call it crying, you know, some people have been

18:49a little extreme. I think that's ridiculous, Eric Spulstra had some pretty strong, you know, comments before the game do, he doesn't give a damn, he doesn't apologize to anybody, no, sure, you know what? I think any other coach rightfully would put a player in that position to succeed. I don't think there was anything ethical or an ethical about chasing records like that. That's just the way it works out. Every game when where a player has chased a record has involved some kind of fidgeting or fudging in the subject in order to get a player to be in that position to achieve whatever that record might be. And that's perfectly fine. And for a player like BAM, a guy is solid, on an off the court as you'll find in the NBA. That was never cost trouble. Never been an issue off the court or anything like that. For him to be able to put up that game, I'm happy as hell for him. I think he's had a great season and he's been really, really good of late. Tonight, unfortunately, he wound up being a little inconsistent, but, you know, there was a hangover about the team following what happened on Tuesday night and you could see it. Yeah, he was clearly exhausted.

19:50And no spring is stepped at all. His jumper was flat, still able to get to the line with silly with a draw contact. And they came away with a win on a feisty Bucks team that, you know, had to, yeah, I was back in the lineup, obviously, and Bobby Portis always a challenge from Miami Heat. But other than that, though, you know what, they won seventh straight. They're in a position out. They were down three stars with no, no, no, no, no, Tyler hero, no, Andrew Wiggins and a wins a win. Yeah. Well, look, in this segment off, we're going to hear a little bit about what happened in this Orlando versus Washington game, Orlando gets a one, 36 to one, 31 win. What a game. Let's hear a little bit from Lockdown Magic for more. This is Phil Prosper, right? The host of Lockdown Magic here at the Kia Center as Orlando Magic survived the Washington Wizards one, 36 to one, 31, thanks for a season high from Jalen Suggs. He had 28 points and a career high from Tristan Silva with 26 points. Those two players, very unheralded players, but very vital players to this magic team made all the big plays for them in the overtime.

20:51Suggs hit a, a, a, a tie breaking three that gave the match to lead and the Tristan Suggs had a huge block on the Law of Kulabala, who pretty much single-handedly brought the Wizards back into the game, a 42.4 quarter as the Wizards outscored Orlando by 15 to force overtime. This game should have been over, though, it should not have needed overtime or should not have needed any of this, but Orlando had a very kind of lack of a basic approach, maybe a little bit tired from the back-to-back and the emotional win yesterday against Cleveland Cavaliers. The magic were just very relaxed, it's not super into the details, not super into the things they need to do to win. Jalen Suggs and Tristan Suggs have both had great games, but Halobane Carroll really struggled to shoot for most of this game. Desmond Bain was kind of there, not really there, it was just a very stagnant and not really the way the match could play through much of this now six-game win streak. But at the end of the day, all they're going to care about is that you scored more than the other team. At the end of the day, all they care about is that you get the win, the magic got the win, they'll take it wherever they can get it, overtime or not. Big win for Orlando, heading to Miami on Saturday. I'm going to shout out to Orlando, shout out to Desmond Bain, if you don't know, everybody

21:53listening to me, at the last 23 games from Desmond Bain, he's averaging over 23 points of game on over 70% through shooting. There's only two other players in the league that have had that kind of scoring streak on that efficiency in volume, it's Yokeach and SGA, just to give you an idea of just how good Desmond Bain has been playing. So shout out to the magic, shout out to the winters to continue to fight through. On the other side, we've got to get to the Detroit pistons because they're trying to hold off to that number one seat, and they got a very much needed win to do that today. We'll talk about all that more here at Lockdown in B.A. game night. This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cashback on every purchase of my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my high yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can apply for Apple Card too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone, subject to credit approval, savings is available to Apple Card owner, subject to eligibility, savings

22:55in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more at Applecard.com. Workplace chaos, deadline stack and go. One box overflowing in the one position you have to feel is still sitting open. Now when the pressure is on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsor jobs. Indeed, sponsor jobs helps you to reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. Skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And look, here's the stack that says it all. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours have made 27 hires on indeed, according to indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed sponsored jobs, spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for indeed, sponsor

23:57jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your premium status. It deserves at indeed.com slash podcasts, just go into indeed.com slash podcasts right now. It's for our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast, indeed.com slash podcasts terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for indeed, sponsor jobs will be back for the final segment here locked on NBA game night. And we are back for the final segment of locked on NBA game night. Thank y'all so much for wanting to show. Make sure y'all like, share, and subscribe. Make sure you tell your mama, tell your cousin, tell your uncle, tell your daddy, tell your name, tell your friend. You love listening to locked on NBA game night. And join the Everyday's Club. If you want to hear more content from David and more content from all the great people

24:58making content for your team, check out the Everyday's Club. Join, become a member. More great stuff is on the way to you. But y'all, let's get to the Detroit Pistons versus the Philadelphia 76ers. And before we get into that game, David, let's hear a little bit more from locked on 76ers. They're saying that 76ers are extremely short-handed and I understand that 76ers went up against the Detroit Pistons center list. They had notes that Dom Barlow had to play the role of a center as you did not have a demo in this game. He did not have Andre Drummond as a later scratch going into this game thanks to back spasms. But man, this was an embarrassing game again. This time, fall into Detroit Pistons 1-3-1-109. And if VJ Edgecom is not healthy and he was the only regular starter available tonight and did start. If he starts out going one for 10, one for 11 and his first 11 shots and the only made

25:59bucket he has is for a tap in, then something tells me that maybe he's just not 100% healthy. And if he's not 100% healthy, despite the fact that the rest of the roster is shut down, you got to find somebody else to play. Some other warm body on this roster to get more minutes from. If VJ's not healthy and unable to get it done, he shouldn't be on the floor. A warm body is absolutely insane, David. They're starting lineup tonight. I got to look through this Trenton Wofford, Justin Edwards, Dominic Barlow, VJ Edgecom and Quentin Grine, that Dalyntary, Cam Paine, Jabari Walker, Kyle Lowry, Marjon Bochamp, Tyrese Martin in their rotation, Noem Bede, No Maxi, No Paul George, No Ubre, this team is decimated. I mean, David, do you think they should shut it down? Did they just try to end the season and just say, hey, let's just do the best we can through the draft? No, no, obviously.

27:00I'm never a big supporter of shutting things down. I haven't been gone through the tank in discussion for far too long. I mean, these players are going to come back. Pete's going to come back from suspension. Max is dealing with it and Bede, he knows his health is always going to be a question. Ubre is going to be back. Look, they're going to get their rotation back to players and they're still in the hut. So for a team that wants to make the playoffs and they had started off with a surprisingly hot start. They've been just as good as any of the other teams in the middle of the pack of the Eastern Conference. They're going through it right now, but they're not out of it by any stretch. So right now, the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference, you know, obviously, the Charlotte Hornets, hot in their trail. But I think they'll probably finish out in the top 10. So the play in is almost virtually a guarantee and they're not that far back of the sixth seed right now. So honestly, anything could change over the next couple of weeks as long as they get healthy. It was an interesting game on the piston side of things. It got Kay didn't play much. He didn't have to score much, but boy, was he making place for everybody? He's putting up incredible numbers this year as well and his MVP case is a pretty strong,

28:03I would say as well. And then he's doing a heck of a job today. They got the defense they needed to get back on track. There's kind of reignite that identity for them. And the three point shooting was on there too as well. They shot 40% from three point line, 14 of 35, especially Duncan Robinson. Yeah, man. Shout out to Detroit. Shout out to Duncan Robinson, obviously, Kate, only eight points for 13 assists today. Look, Detroit just got an obviously hold on to that number one C. That's the thing that matters the most for them moving forward. Next game you all, we actually had the Memphis Grizzly versus the Dallas Mavericks today. And so I want to hear a little bit from Lockdown Grizzly about what he thought about the game today. Woo, buddy. David Locke, Nick Angstead, you guys should be paying me double for watching this Memphis Grizzly's team and posting videos and podcasts and having these conversations about an organization that clearly doesn't care about winning right now. They're doing a heck of a job of losing. They put that on full display against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

29:07I'm Joe Mullenacks of Lockdown Grizzlies and in fairness to the Grizzlies, this is a wild week. They're playing makeup games due to weather earlier in the year. Four games and five nights, you very rarely see that in the NBA anymore. It is almost always because of scheduling quirks. That's exactly what's currently happening here and Memphis does have legitimate injuries. All of those things matter. But Chris Middleton in 2026 scored 35 points on the Memphis Grizzlies, 35 points. In this year, 2026, there's not much more you need to say beyond that. Memphis only having eight guys active to play in this contest. It's not simple. Memphis lost because of scheduling and because of the guys that were on the floor that did the best they could, but still no center, still multiple players that don't have a ton of NBA experience. You get what you put in in this case when it comes to the organization, not the players and coaches. Yeah, man. Shout out to both of those organizations, but David, we got to get to the Los Angeles

30:08Lakers because good, miss, gracious, did Luca Donchitch go crazy. 51 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 9 to 14 from 3, 17 to 31 from the field, Austin Reeves, 30 points, 7 assists, 13 to 20 from the field, 4, 7 from 3, Rui Hachimura had 15. The Andre Aitin had 23 and 10. LeBron had 18, 7 and 7. This was a full, dominant win versus Chicago Bulls and Luca Donchitch put on another performance David to remind everybody that I'm still one of the very best players in the sport. Yeah, I want to tremendous performance from Luca, but I mean, you look at that lake, your score, 122 points and 137 them coming from your starting lineup. That's impressive. Like, I don't know if that says more about the strength of that starting group or the weakness of the reserves, but either way, it was impressive games from everybody. Yeah, Luca is incredible, man. He continues to have a really good stretch of basketball here.

31:10I know that, like, Luca has a very walkie start to the year and he's not been as consistent and strong in some ways, but if you just kind of look at what he's done, just January 1st, Luca's at 32 points, 8 rebounds, he's at 7.73 rebounds and 8.3 assists, but he's shooting 49% from the field. Love to see it. That's good for regard. Especially a shot died. 10.43 is a game. He's shooting 40% from 3 and 75% from the free to line. That's a 62.6 true shooting. That's like more than good enough, especially with his shot died. So a lot of Lakers fans are kind of asking right now, David, like, why is Luca not getting more MVP buzz? If you could kind of map it out right now, based on what he's been doing since January, where would you have him slotted in the MVP race? That's an interesting question. I mean, he's got to be top five at this point, right?

32:11Like, I mean, he's definitely one of the top five candidates period. And I think that I would probably have him looking at it right now. I probably have him third, to be honest with you. I mean, you can make a case between him and Kate, I think, and just because of the overall record, the criteria seems to be all over the place when it comes to MVP races. And you know, this is well as anybody. So I've always had a problem with the way that these things work out. But as far as an individually great player, I don't think you get any better than Luca. The concern for the Lakers though, I think, like, if you look at this group and you look at how everybody's playing out in the Western conference right there, that middle of the pack, like, are you concerned about the Lakers? Do you see them as a legit contender based on what we've seen from Luca over the last few weeks? Because I think the issues with them are always going to be defensively. But I don't know whether or not they have the strength and numbers of what they do on the other side of the ball to make up for those inconsistencies defensively. Yeah. I mean, the Lakers, as Lakers fans will tell you, their issue with athleticism, they don't

33:12have wing athleticism, and they don't have centers that they can consistently rely on to do multiple things, in particular, like, rim protect, screw you. Yeah. It's not that consistent. Right. Yeah. That's been a concern for them. LeBron, defense, obviously, Lucas, defense, Austin Reeve, defense, they just have too many holes. And I think, you know, if you switch versus the Lakers in particular, you could find a lot of success versus them. But yeah, I mean, I think the Lakers are still going to be a good playoff team. The problem is, if they run into the first round and they got to play the wolves again, or if it's three, six, they got to play Denver or even the Clippers, like, then that's just going to be really difficult for them. That a good match. Yeah. But, you know what? But a shout out to Luca, man. I'm super impressed. What do you have in the MVP race? Yeah. It couldn't be higher than four, just because I think Wimby's taking my three spot, Yoke Hitch and taking two, SGA one. And then, yeah, I mean, it probably had to be four. I probably would have to put Cade fifth on that list.

34:14It's probably me right now. You say who? Yeah, Brad. No, brother. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, I'm very tapped into this stuff. And I think David's having a great year, but not an MVP level season, not for me, but he's having an extremely good year. But you know, this was a great addition, a locked on NBA game now. We had a lot of games that we got through, a lot of great basketball that was played today. And this was fun. This was fun episode. Yes. Absolutely. I was good talking to you. Yeah. Y'all know what time it is. Make sure y'all like, share, and subscribe. It's a swipe of that's David. This is locked on NBA game. Now, make sure you tap into us tomorrow, go ahead and have another episode for you. And this, I'm telling you, this is the place that you want to be come in, be a playoff time. Y'all know what time it is. See y'all on the other side. We out. The winner games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events. You only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the winner games on Fandall just makes sense from middle counts

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