Nightcap - Hour 2: Mavs riddle with injuries + Dallas owner talks Luka Doncic trade

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Copyright 2025 MBI. My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of Divine Intervention.
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The Mavs are at risk of forfeiting games if they fall below the minimum.

Eight players active required for teams to play.

ESPN Bobby Marks, Dallas provided an update on Anthony Davis' left adductor strain.

Derek Lively II, right ankle stress fracture. Daniel Gaffer, right knee sprain, stating all three are improving.
However, there's no timetable on any of their returns. Jaden Hardy, right ankle sprain.
Kai Jones, quad, haven't played since March 3rd. P.J.
Washington, right ankle sprain, has been out since March 1st. But now it leaves Brandon Williams, Dwight Powell, Clay Thompson, Najee Marshall, Caleb Martin, Max Christie, Spencer Dinwiddie, Kessler Edwards as the lone healthy players, eight total.
Nobody else can get injured, Ocho. Nah, they can't.
They can't. Listen, hey, why would they penalize the team because people are hurt? I don't understand.
Do they think they faking or something? Just to make sure you don't. The same way you're talking about why team don't want to win games to try to tank and try to get the number one pick to get more ping pong balls.
I thought you played the game to win. Well, listen, we know they're not doing that.
The same way teams used to put players on IR to hide them because the guys because if you released them, somebody might get them so we put them on IR. Right.
Okay. Man, you know, anytime there's anytime, look, people gonna find a way to skirt the system.
No matter what system is in place, you know

what? I got bad credit. I'm going to put

the phone in my kid

name. You see?

I remember them days because that show

had a wash and dry in my name and I was

only two.

Classic.

Ocho,

Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont defended the Luka trade trade take a listen ocho to what he had to say it is so tough decisions are never easy and uh part of leadership is is looking at risk and looking at all the factors of a decision and being willing to act at that time and look to the long term and not only think about the short term or how it may be received immediately, but to think about the long term benefits and what it may allow you to achieve if given all the right considerations. Man, what do you talk about? What do you talk about? No disrespect, Pat, no disrespect, but the long term move was having Luka there.
there now if you're having issues with what he does off the court there's a simple conversation that needs to be had that's all you have to do listen we view you as our long-term plan a long-term asset the long-term nucleus for our team going into the future we want to build around you because we understand how special you are and what you can do for us. You just got us to the NBA Finals last year.
The previous year, based on what you can do on the court. Now you let that go.
With great understanding, Lucas ain't just falling from the tree every season. They're just not happening.
There's really no way you can defend that trade.

Now, I understand the issues that were happening off the court,

some of the things that they didn't see fit

that would probably harm him years down the line.

That's a simple conversation, Unc.

Especially when you want to invest that kind of money

that he was going to make,

and he probably still got to make it,

just going to happen to be somewhere else now.

You don't let a player of that magnitude go that hat that gives you that type of production you don't because like you said like you said as well when is the last time something like this has it ever happened before there's a reason why there's certain players you don't let go of. You think every super, super superstar is perfect behind the scenes? You think Kobe didn't have issues despite his dedication and discipline and structure when it came to playing? You think Michael Jordan didn't have issues that we don't know about outside of playing a game of basketball? Come on, man.
Ain't nobody perfect a 10 to 10 when it comes to wanting to invest in them, but understanding what they give you from a business perspective and what they can do on the court long-term. Come on, man.
Stop playing. That answer was a whole bunch of nothing.
The problem is that he called it a long-term move, and Nico Harrison said said it was a trade to win now move i'm looking at it you just went to the nba finals like you said ocho that's winning now i'm just i'm i'm confused when you i can see okay we got some ass but you said you're trying to win now bro you just went to the nba finals you just did that it's not like it's not like you hadn't made the playoff in a couple years ocho it's not like you got knocked out in the first round ocho it was a situation you went to the nba finals so that is winning you're winning now you didn't win the ultimate prize but damn normally we don't see a team break a team up and that's what they did because you took the key piece out after going to an nba finals unless said individual is unhappy but because we luca never voiced that i wanted to be traded that's what's so surprising that's why the that's why the greatest trade kareem wanted to leave. Orlando allowed Shaq to become a free agent.
And they had a poll and they said, who should they pay, Penny or Shaq? And the poll said they should pay Penny. Shaq took that as an insult, as disrespectful, a slap in the face.
He said, okay, that's what y'all want to do. Boom.
They also said it was too much money because I forget who it was that had just become the highest paid. And it's something to the fact that they didn't think the fans didn't think Shaq deserved that kind of money.
So guys like Shaq, you don't let them become free agents.

You try to extend them as soon as you possibly can,

as soon as the window open and you could offer them a max contract.

You give it to them.

A 24 year old Shaq.

And well, we see what happened when he went to,

he went to the Lakers, but normally guys like like Luka don't get traded unless they're asked to get traded. Kareem asked to get traded.
Kareem was a three-time league MVP. He was a finals MVP.
He had gone to the finals. He had won the scoring title.
He wanted to get out of Milwaukee. They obliged him.
Guys this age, this skilled, this talented, this dominant, you're not just moving them on your own volition. Doesn't happen.
Not at this age. Now, it come a time we saw AI get traded, but AI wasn't 25.
And AI didn't ask to get traded, but you know the uh the organization thought it was in the best interest thought some of the things that were going on off the court and they moved on from ai but 25 year old ai they ain't moving it not and so uh i'm understand but i no i was just saying you understand the product you understand the product that you get I also I used a scenario last night American Gangster Denzel Washington there's nothing wrong with Blue Magic you got Blue Magic why are you touching it why are you touching it there's nothing wrong with perfectly fine just how it is. The product sells itself.
Luka is the product. It sells itself.
Why are you touching it? What are we doing? A player of his magnitude. You know what? All the hookah, all the beer.
God damn it. You've been part of the NBA, GMs, presidents, managers.
You understand everybody drink. Everybody smoke.
Everybody does some things, some extracurricular things outside that as well. But we ain't trading them.
Especially talking about this is for long term. Long term what? Lucas ain't walking through that door?

If they were,

if Lucas would walk through that door, I mean,

a lot of other teams would have success

a lot more frequently.

Come on, man.

Lucas is not a

generational talent. Lucas is a

transcendent talent because

generation is 20 years. Guys don't come along yeah this is transcendent um he's he's he's and for me Ocho if I'm Patrick Dumont if I'm anybody Nico Harrison if I'm anybody in thevericks organization, I am not going to talk about this because all you do, stirring old poop, it still stinks.
All you do is peel the scab off a wound that's still very fresh, but it's starting to scab over. You just rip the scab off and got to start this thing all over again because all the fans heard is like, man, this man Trey, I can't believe this man.
And did

you hear what he said? That's what the fans are thinking.

Did you hear what he said? He said my long-term

goal. Man, stop lying.
We just went to

the NBA Finals last year. You're lying to yourself.

You're lying to yourself.

Yeah, but if I'm them, I'm

done talking about this subject,

Ocho. I ain't

I'm not bringing it up no more, Ocho.

Because I can't

there is no win.

At some point in time, you've got to come to the

conclusion, Ocho, there is nothing

you can say.

Even if

you were to win a title,

you know what people are going to say?

We could have won a title with Luka.

Who's going to say we wouldn't have won a title with luca who's to say who's to say we want to win that title with luca ojo yeah but you know he won't have to worry about that because they're not going to be able to win a title ojo the pain did not stop there for dallas southwest airline after 54 years decided to up there their check bag policy and now they're charging customers by throwing shade at the house. It's not like we traded Luca.
That's a good one. That's a good one.
That's a great business is all about advertising. How do we grasp the viewing eye and make them say, Oh, that was good.
You know what? I want to fly with them. Despite them changing the policy and finally having to pay for bags that was so clever i'm gonna fly with southwest just because i mean i'm not changing you know my my my my love for spirit air spirit airlines but that was a good one that was great advertising i don't know who came up with that even it was short quick and to the to the point.
Perfect scenario. Because the thing is, Ocho, is that there are certain things that are catchy, like the State Farm, like Flow with Progressive, like Allstate with Mayhem, like Budweiser.
Yeah, yeah. Bud, what? You know what I'm saying? The Clydesdale.
Remember the Clydesdale commercial with the horses and the dogs and so forth and so on that's what he wanted to be hey I don't know who that all state that mayhem commercials but he's classic I don't know who behind the creative directed on but he is that's classic oh that's right Jake from State Farm mayhem from Allstate, Flo from Progressive. Really? That's synonymous.
I mean, I don't know what Flo is going to do. Hey, you remember the Wendy's commercial with Grandma? Where's the beef? Yeah, I remember that.
Yeah. So in this situation right here, I mean, look, this is maybe over time because eventually, you know, 20, 30 years from now, people will remember Milwaukee traded Kareem.
You don't remember that. People think Kareem played his whole career in L.A.
He didn't. He didn't.
It happens it definitely it happens

and he was homegrown

we took a young kid out of Slovenia

not extremely terribly

athletic he doesn't jump very high

he doesn't run very fast

all I know he puts the ball

in the basket and at an elite level

he has the third

highest scoring average in NBA history, only behind Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and his Luka Dunn. History.
History. He has the second highest scoring average in playoff history behind one Michael Jordan.
They're not going to forget that soon. Over time, you know, we forget a lot of stuff over time.
That's just the way the human mind is after a while. But it ain't happening anytime soon.
And because anything that he does, you know, people are going to go back. And plus, we got internet.
Maybe it would have been different if Kareem came up in an era where you had internet and you had 24-hour news cycles and people talk sports all the time, 24 hours a day, 365. Maybe it would be different.
But sports is different now than what it was back then, Ocho. It's vastly different because the way we cover it, the way we talk about it, the way we consume it.
And with all that being said, people are going to be mad in Dallas at the Maverick for a long ass time. He's not going to make it no easier on his end playing the way he's playing.
When LeBron comes back and they continue to have success together on the court, it's going to always be brought up over and over and over and over. This is who they traded.
Hey, but don't lose sight of that. I understand y'all didn't trade Luka, but y'all charging for check bags now.
So let's keep the focus on the focus. I get it.
It's very catchy. It's not like we traded Luca, but y'all charging money for those bags.
And I remember when they first instituted charging for check bags, don't you? I was like, man, everybody's like, that ain't going to last long. That ain't going to last long.
People are going to stop flying. Okay.
Well, how are you going to get from California to Florida? You're going to fly. How are you going to get from New York to South Carolina? Exactly.
You're going to drive. I to Florida? You're going to fly.
How you going to get from New York to South Carolina?

Exactly. You're going to fly.

You're going to fly.

And guess what?

What normally happens is that when

one airline does something, what does everybody

else do? Follow right behind.

Follow right behind.

Because you got to make it up

for a reason. They charge you

for check bags for a reason. You got to make money.
This is a business no matter how you see it. And think about the money.
Think about it, Ocho. They give you one and then they charge you if the bag is of a certain weight.
They charge you what? How much is it? A dollar a pound? For real. Yeah! I do my best regardless of how long I'm going somewhere to always take a carry on.
I take a carry on in a duffel. I try not to take suitcases.
I try to do the same thing. But sometimes when you're traveling, when you're traveling eight cities in 10 days, sometimes you got to do what you got to do.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Wait, wait,

wait, wait one minute. Now, listen, you can always use my method, a method I've been using

for a very long time. It's very, it's cost efficient and it works going from city to city.

Now, if you got what, how many days you say eight cities in 10 days? Now, if you got eight cities in

10 days, what you have to understand is all you have to do is take three pair of shoes,

use the same outfit, have a bunch of underwear, tank tops, and t-shirts, always change, but use the same outfit, but change your shoes after each city because the outfit resets itself. So if you're in Chicago on Monday and you got to go to say, let's say LA on Tuesday, all you do is wear the same outfit, but change your shoes and the outfit resets itself based on a different location.
So that's multiple outfits. Now, they're just something I do and still do to this day.
Especially when you have to do things back to back to back and you having to do signings and appearances for LePortier. Okay.
You think I can wear shorts and tank top in connecticut and california in uh chicago right now all you need all you need is a little jacket you can put a little jacket in your duffel real quick boom you good old hoodie you don't need much you used to the cold you played in denver you played in baltimore boy that was 20 years ago i'm just trying to save you on your traveling expenses. Not only expenses, but being able to travel efficient and light.
Two pair of shoes. Yeah.
Same sweatsuit. Matter of fact, you have a black sweatsuit and a gray one.
And those are interchangeable and you just change the shoes. A pair of white Air Force Ones and a pair of black ones.
I got white Air Force Ones and that's it. It goes with everything.
See, that's why you... The outfits, I don't know.
They probably stand up in the corner by themselves when I take them off. It works, though.
It works. It works.
Yeah, I hate going to... I just want to come out of the airport and hop right into the car and I'm off.

I don't want to stand around baggage claim

and

I mean, look,

fan,

I want to say this.

If you see a person

standing around baggage claim,

don't ask them what they're doing.

If I see you standing around baggage claim, what do you think you think I think you doing Ocho? waiting on my bag what are you doing here? yeah I came to get some crab cakes he's just trying to start a little conversation, really not knowing. Bro, bro.
Hey, how you doing? Hey, Ocho, how you doing, man? I be watching Nightcap, man. Y'all be going crazy, man.
Y'all be going ham with that thing. I love that show.
You know, I love it. Bro, don't come on now.
People be nervous, huh? You got to understand that. People be nervous.
Oh, Lord, have mercy. I told you the dude asked me out of the description strip joint Man what you doing here Same thing you doing here

Look at that hoo-ha

That's what I'm doing here

That's what you doing here

What the hell

What you think I'm doing

Ain't no basketball

Ain't no sporting going on

Right right right right

So you're there for the hoo-ha

And the wings huh

Yeah

Come on bro

Yeah man

Hey

Yeah man

Hey man

Y'all

Man I've been watching you

With TD bro

Not the time

Not right now

You try to distract me hey hey yeah man honey on the stage bro i ain't trying to hear nothing about no td i'm looking at Honey right now. That's what I'm looking at.

Ooh,

Amber. Amber

up next.

Yeah, I'm coming to the stage one.

Stage three, Devastation.

Yeah.

Honey, look. You ain't never seen Devastation, huh?

You ain't never seen Devastation?

Yeah, it's one named Devastation,

boy. She known worldwide.

They call it chocolate caramel.

Yeah.

Mercedes.

That's throwback.

That's throwback.

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My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of

Divine Intervention. This is

a story about radical nuns in combat

boots and wild-haired priests

trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover in a hell-bent effort to sabotage a war.
J. Edgar Hoover was furious.
Somebody violated the FBI, and he wanted to bring the Catholic left to its knees. The FBI went around to all their neighbors and said to them, do you think these people are good Americans? It's got heists, tragedy, a trial of the century, and the goddamnedest love story you've ever heard.
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The Bucs beat the Lakers by 20, 126-106. That's three straight losses.
The three teams behind them in the standings are all riding winning streak. Houston, four games.
Golden State, five games. Minnesota, six games.
Big trip tomorrow to end the road trip in Denver back-to-back.

The Lakers wasted an outstanding, an outstanding performance by Luka Doncic.

Luka is the youngest Laker to play, the youngest Lakers player,

to have 45 points, 10 rebounds in a game since 1962.

Oh, 45.

Magic had. What did Magic have in that playoff game, Ash?

Was it 42? He might have had 42.

But anyway, he's the youngest Laker

to have 45 points,

10 rebounds in a game since 1962.

The problem tonight,

Coach O, was

the guys that can score,

they don't really defend very well.

Luka and AR.

Guys that can defend can't score the ball.

Finney Smith, Vanderbilt, that's the issue that you had.

Luka and AR played extremely well.

Nobody else did much.

And that's the problem that you're going to have.

They got crushed on the Magic half 42-15, okay.

The Lakers shot 44% from the floor.

They allowed Milwaukee to shoot 48.

They shot 38% from the three.

They allowed the Bucs to shoot 43.

Turnovers weren't that vast.

14 for the Lakers, 12 for the Bucs. they did get out rebounding by uh 10 on the offensive glass but look and that's the problem that you're gonna have right now they're scrambling they're undersized i like i said again uh and i don't like to beat a dead horse but i don't know why they signed alex lynn it's he's he's i mean he he big for no reason i mean i mean probably the god thinking like man if i didn't know how know you were going to be like this, I wouldn't have gave you all this.
Ain't no sense. Pretty soon he's about to be the tallest coach ever.
That's where he headed. That's his next occupation, Ocho.
I don't want to talk bad about him. Maybe he just hasn't come into his own yet.
Maybe he's lacking a little bit of confidence, having that type of size, that type of length. And to be playing in the NBA, you have to be of some type of use.
I haven't seen it yet. He's simple, Tom.
Listen, I know. I saw for myself.
No Jackson Hayes tonight, no LeBron, no Rui. I think the game would have been a little bit more competitive obviously if the Lakers' court was healthy.

Obviously, Luka did all he could

do, but as you said, those that score

can't play defense. Those who play

defense, they can't goddamn score.

So not having LeBron

is hurt. I think it's going to be like this

for the next week or two until he can get himself

back in health.

Luka's going to have to do his best. Luka's going to have to do his best and carry the load as much as he can, and hopefully the supporting cast can have nights.
Those that can score can have nights when they're on and be a little bit more efficient and pick up the slack, being that LeBron is not there. You look at Luka.
They scored 106 points, Ocho.

Luka gave you 45.

Austin Reed gave you 28.

That's 73.

That's crazy.

They got 33.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

The nine other players scored 33 points.

One guy scored 10.

So that means they got 23 from the other eight.

And now you look at the Bucs. Giannis was assist away from a triple-double, 24-12-9.
Brooke Lopez, 23. Dane, 22.
Kevin Porter Jr., 22. Gary Trent Jr., 16.
When you get that kind of production, when you get that kind of balance scoring, and the scoring is so lopsided on the other side, well, that's kind of what you're going to get. You're going to get a situation where you get blown out.
And like we said, we were talking about it at the top, Ocho, those that can score don't defend. Those that can't, those that can defend can't score.
So what do you do? I mean, they would have literally had to play a perfect game. Luka and AR give you what they gave you, but other guys are going to have to knock down shots.
I mean, Luka can't play any better. I mean, some of the shots that he was hitting, you're like, damn.
Damn. And they got the game within, what, 2-3, and next thing you know, the Bucs go on a 10-0 run or a 12-0 run and push it back to 14.
The Lakers claw it back. They go on a 15-2, 15-3 run and push it back out, and then the Lakers could get no closer than that.
It's just LeBron could not have – and it's not his fault, so I don't want people to say, oh, Sheldon, like you could help. But LeBron's injury could not have come at a worse time, Ocho.
I were playing extremely well and then he gets

hurt. Now what

do you do? And I said this at the time.

I do not believe they're going to be in second place.

They're not going to be in second place. They got to hope

they can hold this thing off and not get

in the play-in, which is 7 through 10

because they got an uphill climb.

They got the Nuggets tomorrow.

They got

the Nuggets tomorrow. Now, Brook Lopez had 23.
What the hell you think Yoke going to do? Well, listen, it don't matter who Yoke playing. He going to get 29-30 each night regardless.
Listen, Yoke will be playing the goddamn five disciples on the court. He going to score.
He going to get his points no matter what. For some reason, I wouldn't be surprised.
I wouldn't be surprised as good as Denver's been playing all year long. And despite the Lakers not having LeBron, watch they shock you tomorrow.
For some reason, watch the Lakers shock you tomorrow and just so happen to stumble up on a win despite LeBron not playing. Luka's probably going to have another good game.
AR probably going to go up. Luka need to go for 70.
Luka would need to go for 70. AR need to go for 35.
And then the other guys need to go for 30. Don't be surprised if it happened.
I'm not saying it because I'm saying it. I'm just saying the way sports goes in general, for some reason it always happens like that.
They've lost three. And all of a sudden they play Denver.
You you expect them to lose especially those that like like to gamble they mess around and win tomorrow night watch now watch what I tell you I would have looked had they not gotten blown out last night by Minnesota I might have agreed with you Ocho I might have agreed with you but because they got blown out at home by Minnesota I don't see see that happening. Mike Malone will have them very focused.

That left a nasty taste in their mouth.

They know without – I mean, they let Ant-Man go off.

Drew Randall went off.

And they got beat by almost 20 on their home court.

They'll be fired up.

That crowd will be rocking.

And if you watch this team over the last four to five years, they get up like no other to play the Lakers. Okay.
They get up to play the Lakers. The Lakers are everybody's championship.
I mean, especially the Nuggets. Some teams you get up to play for, like now it's Kansas City, used to be the Patriots.
Everybody played their best when they played the Cowboys. That's what the Lakers are up against now.
I expect the Nuggets to put their best foot forward. I expect them to play some of their best ball because they're ticked off that they let Minnesota come in there and do what they did to them last night.
Oh, man. But, yeah, it's tough.
And they were playing so well, Ocho. The Lakers had been playing extremely well.
Luka and LeBron had started to figure it out. Luka was going to have the ball in his hand.
LeBron was going to dive and slash to the basket, going to get to the post up. He post up at the top of the key, post up on the side.
Now he can see over. The assist totals were really high because you got two of the best passes in NBA history with the ball in their hands, a large part.
AR taking a little pressure off AR because now your two best defenders got to guard LeBron and Luka. So now AR is getting the third or fourth best defender.
He's going to do what he does. So everything had really, really started to go well.
And then just like that. You know, it's funny.
Honestly, it's pretty the same thing that happened to Dallas. You know, everybody questions the trade.
They look good. They look decent for a little bit.
AD goes down. Okay, we still got Kyrie.
We got something to live off of. We got some hope.
We still got a superstar that can put butts in the seats and at least get the viewers' attention. He goes down.
Damn.

So the Lakers looked like the trade that they

had, it was winning.

LeBron playing well. Luka playing well.

They going on a winning streak.

Luka showing flashes of what he used to be.

Then he scoring 30.

He cutting the food. LeBron cutting the food.

Some of the pressure's off of him. He don't have to bring

the ball up the court. He can play freely.

Take over a game when he want to.

Now he go down.

Hey, it's sports, baby.

That's what makes the game so beautiful.

Yeah.

Sometimes, Ocho,

you got to laugh

to keep him crying.

Man, that's a good one right there, play.

That's a good one. You know to laugh to keep him crying.
You know who the Lakers use right now? Whoever the triple-double in high school? Nobody. Ain't nobody out there can help the Lakers right now.
Boy, you ain't never seen me put the ball on the floor now. Boy, you never seen my mid-range game, huh? You ain't never see me come off the pick and roll and pull up.
Man, don't play. Oh, so you could pick and pop? I could pick and pop, bud.
I could pick and pop better than the stripper. I'll tell you no lie.
That's, yeah, it's, like I said, you look at Houston's playing well, you look at Minnesota's playing well, Golden State's playing well since the addition of Jimmy Butler. The Lakers, and as good as those teams were playing, the Lakers were playing better.
But it just so happens, sometimes injuries happen at the most inopportune times and hopefully you have a team that's good enough to overcome, that can keep the ship steady until said player comes back or said players come back, but in this case, it's really one. Yeah, we'd love to get Rui back.
We'd love to get Jackson Hayes back. But the one guy that you could ill afford to lose is LeBron James because he's a guy that does a lot of what kind of – like when you got here, Luca, know, they're going to give you 50 to 60 points between the two of them.

They're going to give you somewhere between 18 and 20 rebounds between the two of them.

And they're going to probably give you 20 assists between the two of them.

So you count, you can count on that.

Now, Austin Reeves gives you what he gives you, which is somewhere between 18 and 20 points on a nightly basis.

Rui chips in and give you his 14.

Now, whatever we get from Fanny Smith, whatever we get from Gabe Benson, we take it. We know Jackson Hayes is going to roll, going to give us some second chance opportunities.
We know he's going to roll to the basket, dive to the basket, catch a couple of lobs, get a couple of putbacks. Right now we don't really have that.
We don't have that. We don't have a big uh we're playing undersized Giannis is just getting whatever he wants getting to the basket um uh Brooke Lopez getting offensive rebounds getting whatever he wants so it was really a tough night um the effort I don't think I don't think JJ is going to be really pleased with the effort there's a lot of times Kevin Porter Jr.
hit three I think three straight threes in the uh In the third quarter, I'm going.J. is going to be really pleased with the effort.
There's a lot of times Kevin Porter Jr. hit three, I think, three straight threes in the third quarter.
I mean, wide open, shoot around threes. Can't have that.
They've got to be better. They've got to be locked in, and guys got to know their responsibility and close out without filing, and they got to get the ball.
Your the ball goes up, your job is not done once the guy misses the shot. Your job is done once you grab the rebound.
Because if he misses the shot and you don't grab the rebound, what have you actually done? It's kind of like you and I talk about on third down. You get a team to third down.
If you can't get them off the field, what good is getting them to third down? None. Listen, if they get a third down and they keep doing it, they're going to get them all in.

That's demoralizing.

Yes.

It's extremely demoralizing.

But the Lakers

got to find a way to do something.

And I don't know if, like I said, LeBron is probably

going to be out for at least another week.

Probably the earliest you can expect to see LeBron James

is probably next weekend, and there's a

good chance, Ochoa, they can be in

the 7th or the 8th spot by then.

Unless something

drastically happened, like I said,

especially starting tomorrow night,

they just happened to win. Even though

you say how teams get up to play

the Lakers, I just have a feeling

just with understanding of how sports

work, regardless of what the sport is, whether it be soccer soccer whether it be football whether it be basketball tennis but it's just for some reason where things are when you think about a team that's playing they're not playing well they have a star that's gone for some reason the team always plays well against a team that you just know they're going to lose to and they just surprise you i really have a feeling i don't know why so people out there if you if you're a gambler i really would pick the lakers to win tomorrow despite it being denver despite what with joker and and murray are doing i just think so yeah i might be i might pick the uh the lakers somebody else's money but if it's my money, I'm not picking the Lakers because I

value my money a little bit more than that.

With that being said, we'll see

what happens. I mean, hey,

Milwaukee, you know,

you're going to get in late tonight to Denver

and you got to shoot around

tomorrow and then you go back,

get your nap, and then hopefully

you put your best foot forward and see what

happens, but I'm not

overly confident

that they're going to be able to pull this out