LeBron, Russ, Coach Ham, JTA x James Worthy React To Lakers vs Rockets | Jan 16, 2023

I think it was a franchise record for lowest turnovers tonight and ended up with just two. You don't see that too often. Did you think that was reflective of anything in the way that you played? And how much did that end up mattering overall? I thought it was huge. Obviously, the guys, we did a great job. It's something we've been talking about, trying to make sure in terms of us being more deliberate offensively with what we want to do and what we want to get into. The key element in the midst of all that is taking care of the ball. Making sure we rather get field goal attempts than mishandling the ball. And I'm fine when it's a competitive turnover, but just the senseless errors. I thought we're at a minimum tonight, and you see we only had two of them. But I thought the guys did a great job, man. Again, just playing fast, making quick decisions. Rowe got a little bumpy there for a little bit in the second half, but we stay competitive, we stay moving forward. Next play mentality, and we're thankful to come up with the win. That's a scrappy young group over there with some guys that can fill it up, some guys that really know how to play. So there's no easy nights in this league. And I'm happy we were able to sustain throughout the 48 minutes. And then, Darvin, maybe a little bit against what you might expect. LeBron's had some of his best numbers with zero days rest on these back-to-back settings, and tonight kind of speaks to that. But what do you see from him in these types of situations this year? Just him being in a rhythm, man, him being in a rhythm. His body is feeling good, aside from a sore ankle, sore foot, sore foot. And that just comes with wear and tear, but he's just in a great rhythm. His mind, he's locked in, he's communicating, he's coaching the guys up. Helping us, the coaching staff. You know, just him, just the way he's been engaged, it's been great. And you know, for him and Russ, you know, Russ was great tonight too. You know, zero turnovers, that 24-5-4. Just their ability to be organized and again, get what they want. And then the way they competed and scrapped defensively, it's huge. But LeBron, he's just been in an incredible rhythm, and it's showing. Sure, Durbin, in a perfect world, you wouldn't, I don't know, maybe you wouldn't want LeBron to have to score 48 to get you guys across the finish line, but he's done it now three times since his birthday. I mean, we ask you this different times, but what do you make of this run that he's doing and kind of the will he's showing while you guys are so shorthanded? I think it's historic, man, on a lot of different levels. You know, for him to be at this point in his career and still able to produce at the level in which he's producing. I just think all of us just really being able to witness it, be a part of it. And it shows his competitive spirit, his no-quit mentality. You know, we've had guys in and out the lineup, banged up. You know, missed games for various reasons, including him. But his has been more on the minimal side. And whenever he's out there, man, he's just competing just how efficient he's been as well. You know, it's just, it's amazing to see. And you know, he wants to win, we all want to win. And he's willing to do whatever it takes. If it requires him just scoring 20 points or, you know, the teams with a triple-double or to score 40 or 50. You know, he's just there to fill whatever hole there is that we may be experiencing in the moment. So he just continues to be great. And we just gotta try to keep him in bubble wrap and keep it going. Yeah, I mean, it's one of those games where you don't really, you don't overanalyze it. I'm not trying to get out. Just take the W, go get some rest, man. It's been a long week already. You know, the double overtime game, the tough loss to Philly. Like, just take this one, relax, start getting ready for the rest of the week. This isn't the game where you say, hey, we're ready to win a championship right now. But you'll take a win. Yeah. Get out of there. Yes. Happy MLK Day. Most 40-point games at age 38 or older, LeBron now has three of them. MJ has eight, the all-time leader, cap with three. So the next time LeBron goes for 40, he'll move into that number two slot. LeBron just turned 38 December 30th, and he's already has three 40-point games. A season-high 48 on 16 of 26. In big game, James, 20 of those came in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers needed all 20 of those. Yeah, they did. And, you know, that's what LeBron does. I saw him talking to his teammates, doing a timeout on what to do in a specific thing, if I go this way, if I pick. So, yeah, I mean, he's orchestrating, you know, leadership, and, you know, he knew they needed to win, and no one can stop him. These teams just don't have guys that have the physical frame to really resist much once he gets ahead of steam going downhill. So whether that's in transition or sometimes in the half court, he's too strong, too powerful getting to the basket. And, you know, teams are going to have to start to show more of a crowd when he is driving the basketball, but that should create some open opportunities for other guys out on the perimeter. I think things that the Lakers probably won't like, and we're not going to focus too much on it. I'm sure Darwin will talk about it, but the second-chance points for the Rockets, 17 offensive rebounds for 21 points. The points in the paint were 72, and the defensive intensity and locking in just didn't seem to be there. The Lakers could have broken that game open. They were up 16 in that third quarter. Yeah, I mean, look, without A.D., it puts a lot of pressure on Thomas and Gabriel. And, you know, they're not big, big, bigs, and they're not like rim protectors like A.D. and some of the other shot blockers. And, you know, when Thomas has been in and out, put a lot of pressure on Gabriel. But when he fouled out, they really just didn't have any size, you know? And they forgot they have to do it collectively as a team. Those guards have to get back in and help rebound. But 72 points in the paint, just, you know, Houston didn't feel like there was any resistance there. And they were going a lot to the hole without any worry of, you know, shot blocking or, you know, any resistance there. And Fischer kind of had that, like, pickup game mentality. Right on. Lakers just knew they could score. Yeah, no, for sure. That will. But Rockets kind of were pretty confident in scoring the ball, too. Yeah, no. There was a lot of resistance. They knew they could score whenever they wanted to. And those are dangerous games to play in because you can just essentially fall in love with what's happening offensively and not really have that sense of urgency on the defensive end. Let me give you some numbers you will like. Only two turnovers. Zero by Russ. And the bench was crazy. 60 points. Nunn had 15. Gabriel, 14. Russ, 24 points. Zero turnovers. But those two turnovers, you know, you're not turning the ball over, but you're also getting out in transition. 27 fast break points. Yeah. I mean, the Houston Rockets, 10 wins. Not a lot of defensive resistance either. So that made the game easy for the Lakers offensively. And oftentimes, in order to get stronger, you need resistance. Yeah. And so during the course of this game, the Lakers weren't feeling enough resistance. So they actually didn't grow and get stronger as the game went on. They kind of just stayed the same. Not really messed around. You could tell they wanted to win the game. But the fatigue, a lot of times, is mental in back-to-back situations, not just physical. Yeah. A track meet coming on Wednesday. Also, it's Kings. No doubt. Big game, James. Do you want to say something? You know, Sabonis and Fox are big. You know, sometimes when you're playing against a team like Houston, they get you to play their game. Yeah. And it's dangerous. You know. And they're really good at playing that little pick-up game. They're young. But the Lakers overcame. Russ has scored 20 points or more in five straight games. He's speaking with Mike in the media. Good stat. Yeah. Russ, we see the turnovers tonight for the team are at a historic low. And just wondering if that's something that is ever a conscious thing, or just kind of the game all happened to flow that way and taking care of the ball, kind of against taking care of the ball. What was your perspective on that? It's big for us. A lot of teams have to get in transition. I'd rather get up shots than turn the ball over. And I think they did a good job of that tonight. Dan. Russ. We asked Darwin about this. There was a clip shown on the broadcast of you getting into an animated discussion with some of the coaches at halftime. And Darwin believed it was something involving rotation minutes and said, hey, it's a passionate game. And this goes with the territory. One, I'm just curious, your take on what the interaction was? Because everyone who tuned into the game saw it. And does that speak to anything about the culture of this team? Or is that just like normal interactions when you guys are discussing the competition? Yeah, honestly, it's just a conversation. I didn't get into it with anybody. But obviously, people are going to proceed however they want to. But just the voice and my opinion. And that was it. Russ, can you share with us what the topic was? I mean, Darwin said rotation. No. OK. How important was it for you guys to kind of withstand Houston's sort of youthful exuberance in this game? It felt like they kept coming at you guys. And how were you able to hold them off? Just competing. We knew they were going to make a run. They made a run, made some shots. They were doing a good job of just staying with it, being real cautious of how we plan in our shots and how we execute down the stretch. Russ, the league put out the two-minute report and deemed that NB did not foul you. They called it marginal contact. LeBron James went on Twitter basically to, in a way, have your back, saying that the officiating hasn't been up to snuff. What was your reaction to seeing the last two-minute report? And do you think anything could be done to improve things in that category for the league? Honestly, I didn't even know anything about it from via social, as you guys told me just now. But I got no comment on it. It is what it is. Won tonight. That's over. Move on to the next one. Thanks, Russ. All right, here's a graphic that Andrew Miller, our graphics producer, worked really hard on. This is most 20-point games off the bench in a Lakers single season. Lou, Sweet Lou Williams, Lemon Pepper, 25. Nick Young, Swaggy P, 23. Kobe had 20 of them in 97, 98. Jordan Clarkson, 13. Big game, James and Trez with 12 Russ joints. What do you laugh at that, Nicky? What do you laugh at? Nothing. When were you coming off the bench, man? Was that 82 or 83? I mean, yeah. I mean, coming off the bench is. Was that 82, 83? That's an important job. Now, I came off the bench, like, when I retired in 94. But yeah, I mean, those guys that you showed right there, man, they've been key to the success of those teams. I mean, especially guys like Lou and Jamal Crawford, guys like that who come off the bench, lighten it up. Seven points and three assists for Juan Toscano Anderson. He's in the locker room with Brez. Juan, we were just talking to Coach Hamm, and he said things got a little bumpy there at the end, but you guys pulled out of it. What did you see out there in that fourth quarter? It's hard to win in the NBA. You know, the game is a game of runs. People are competitive. They're going to compete to the very end. And that's just how it goes sometimes. But we pulled it out. We got it done. And whether it's a pretty win or an ugly win, it's still a win. When you watch the guy right over there, LeBron James, 48 points, he scored 40 or more, three times since his birthday a couple weeks ago. He really is the GOAT. Yeah, I mean, it's a pleasure to play alongside players that caliber. I had the opportunity to play with Steph and Jermon and Klay. So it's really cool to be able to play with LeBron James. That's somebody I've always admired since I started playing basketball. It's not every day that you get to be around greatness. So I cherish those moments, learn from them, and just enjoy the journey that I'm on, playing alongside guys like that. You guys had lost three in a row. How important was it to kind of break that streak tonight? It's very important. You never want to lose two games in a row, three games in a row. But just like the game within the game, the season is a game of runs. It's a long season. It's all about how you bounce back. So now we're off to a fresh start, one win. Got another game Wednesday. Hopefully, we can get that done. I think we play again once more before we go to Portland. So hopefully, we can just stream some games together and just focus on that. It's unfortunate when you lose three games in a row, but it's a part of the season. You just got to take it with a grain of salt. Only two turnovers for the team tonight. That's a Laker franchise record. That's very impressive. I actually just saw that. You never see that, right? So kudos to my teammates. I mean, they didn't turn the ball over. You can win basketball games like that. Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's hard to not turn the ball over when you're trying to make plays. Some guys average two to three turnovers a game. So the whole team collectively, just with two turnovers, I was actually very impressed. I didn't even look at any other statistic after that. Well, thanks for the time. Thank you. The NBA TV cameras picked up the little exchange you had with Jabari Smith Jr. And then saw the post-game photo with his dad and him being on the Kings roster the first game. And then you played against him three times your second year. Is there context you can give us just to you think about stuff like that, and then you're putting 48 on in a game like this and being matched up with Jabari Jr. for much of the game? Well, it made me feel extremely old when Jr. told me that. I think he even said that, like, probably feel old or something in that context. But like I said, post-game, I've just been extremely blessed. And to be able to play this game and be able to touch multiple generations, that's not the only. I mean, King Martin Jr. was out on the court tonight as well. I played against his dad, Gary Trent, a senior. I played against, obviously, his son now in Toronto. So it's just Gary Payton and his son. So it was just a unique thing that I've been able to withstand, to test the time as long as I've been playing, to be able to compete now versus father and son combinations. Same as what Brady's doing. I mean, you look at, like, Shanti Samuels and now his son's playing. And Patrick Surtain, he played against his dad, and now he's playing against his son. So just trying to keep up with the Bradys, I guess, not the Joneses. And then kind of along those lines, with Bronny being very close in age to Jabari, is there a different kind of way that you can connect or understand, just thinking about your relationship with your son and next generation? Absolutely. I can connect very easily. I have an 18-year-old son in my house, and having a 19-year-old teammate sit right next to me at the practice facility in MAC. So I can relate and understand both sides of the spectrum, because I'm around it on a day-to-day basis. One about tonight, and one about your tweet earlier. Tonight, you guys set a franchise record for only two turnovers in a game. Just, you've been playing for so long, how rare? And what does that say about your team connection tonight? It's very rare. And you know, you always, as a ball club, want to kind of play in a, like, you want to kind of be in an 11 to 13 range, if you can. You know, that's kind of the range you want to be in, where taking care of the ball, you feel like if you're in an 11 to 13 range, giving yourself an opportunity to score, give yourself an opportunity to get shots up at the rim, and not allowing the team to get opportunities at the fast break. So I mean, I look at the Rockets only at seven fast break points, and for a team that's as young as they are, that's what they're really good at. So by us not turning the ball over, it'll allow us to set our defense. And you tweeted earlier this afternoon about just expressing frustration the way the last two games were officiated. And you echoed something you told us back in November, that refs have been telling you that, hey, I missed it, or I didn't see it. Is there a solution you have in mind? Is there something that can be done that can make it better? Well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't have the answer to it, which is very, very frustrating to be able to put yourself in a position to win. And then you have two calls that could have helped you win ball games and back-to-back games not going your way. So when you're in a win business, it can affect a lot of people. It can affect a lot of people's job security. It can affect a lot of things that's going on. And when you have an opportunity, you put yourself in a position to win, you want to feel like it's in the first half, where you look to the crowd and told people that you quoted, I think, a Pulp Fiction line that you're a bad man. When did you feel the rhythm tonight? And it feels like when you've played second nights of back-to-back so far this year, you dial it up pretty quickly. Is there anything to that? It's kind of weird, because I don't feel it. I was extremely exhausted today, extremely tired. Body was sore from the battle that we had yesterday versus Philly. But I guess once I step on the floor for warm-ups and the crowd fills in, it's my job to go out and play the best way I can. And I'm not going to be perfect. I'm not going to make every shot. But I just try to lock in on the job at hand. I could have very easily took tonight off, but I don't feel like the momentum of our ballclub could use me taking a night off tonight. I don't feel like I wanted to sit on that loss with Philly last night. I wanted to kind of get that out of my taste buds and see if we can win a ball game tonight. So it was a complete team effort, and I just try to make plays. LeBron, aside from not turning the ball over, what did you feel like was the difference tonight in pulling this one out versus the last couple? Even when they made their runs, we were stand-o's. We was up 14 at one point in the third, and I think they cut it all the way down to three to start to four for something around there. And we was able to still make enough plays, still make enough stops, and give ourself an opportunity to win the ball game. So I feel like that was very key. Hey, Bron. You've long cited how you take care of your body as being one of the main reasons you've been able to be so good for so long. But I'm curious, has your unique ability to sort of outthink opponents and see things contributed to that as well? And when did you realize that you had that advantage? I knew at a very young age that I had the ability to read the game before the game was even being played or possessions or being able to read plays ahead of time. So I've always had that ability for quite a long time, even when I was a teenager. So I always knew that any part of my game, as far as athleticism, will start to go down that I could still outthink a lot of my competition. And then as my athleticism goes down a little bit, I knew I could expand my game up. So early on, it was a lot of just speed and just jumping in and figuring it out. And as you get smarter and smarter, you say, OK, well, teams now know that they can kind of key in on these things. So how can I make sure that I am unguardable and I can always put myself in a position where I do what I want to do, not what the defense wants me to do? So I've been able to continue to work on my craft and also still keep the mind in it of being able to see plays happen before they happen. Last question here. LeBron, when he was alive, Dr. King was widely hated for his views and for his activism. It wasn't until he was assassinated that the narratives around him began to change. When you think about your social activism and the critique that you've received, how are you able to relate to Dr. King? Well, first of all, it's a beautiful day that we're able to celebrate such a great man and what he stood for and everybody that was around him that stood for him and stood for his views as well. For me, looking at guys like Dr. Martin Luther King, looking at guys like Muhammad Ali, guys that spoke from their hearts of being able to understand what's going on in the world and being able to use their platforms to be able to shine light on some discrimination things or on views they believe in, that's for the better of the people, no matter your color, no matter your skin, no matter how tall or short, no matter whatever the case may be your age. Talking about how we can all be as one, how we all can preach love and not hate, things of that nature. Growing up in the inner city, seeing how underprivileged black people are, I always felt like if I had an opportunity to be able to have any type of platform, I always wanted to give back to that. I always wanted to be able to use my voice and people that grow up like me to be able to understand that we do have power, we do have an opportunity to make people understand that there is good in love. I'm not nowhere near sitting up here saying, I'm Dr. Martin Luther King, or I'm not a mob. Those guys literally stood on the front line and did it every single day. But what I am honored to do is be able to still live through them and be able to speak some of the words that they preached and also live by action as well, being able to give back to my community and being able to speak for my people and the things that we've been through over many, many, many, many, obviously, years. We know the history. But it's definitely a treat to be able to perform and do what I love to do on such a great man's day. And Dr. King is one of the greatest men ever walked the face of the earth. Appreciate it.