🆕NBA News 🏻 Lakers Dominate Clippers And Pelicans Fail To Close Against Jazz| FYF Sports Debates

It's FYL Sportsman, it's Lamont here, man. Back, we got another podcast video. We're gonna be breaking down today's NBA games. I know everybody just got through watching those games, so we just gonna recap those games. Before we get started today, make sure you guys like, comment, subscribe, hit that notification bell. Again, we appreciate everybody that subscribed so far. Again, we just trying to grind to 10K. Once we get to 10K, that's when we're gonna start doing our live show. So again, if you don't wanna miss those live shows, make sure that you go to Facebook, go to NBA Go Talk, the Facebook group. Make sure you join that group, because again, we're looking to get 500 members in that group. We're also looking to get 10K subscribers here on YouTube. And once we meet that goal, that's when we're gonna start doing our live debates, our live things of that nature once we get started. But again, we look forward to having a really good show today. We got a guest here. We got Jayed. Man, he's gonna help us get some insight on some of these NBA games today. Again, he's just gonna bring a different perspective like we always do. And then we're gonna start off, you know, we're gonna start off with the first game of the day. And the first game of the day, man, was really interesting. It had a lot of ups and downs, man. I'm not even gonna really talk too much about it. You guys don't know much about Jayed, so I'm gonna go ahead and let him talk about what he saw. And we just gonna kind of break it down from there, what we liked, what we didn't like about the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans. That was the first game of today, man. Jayed, what'd you think about it? Think about it. Well, first things first, I thought it was very interesting towards the end, especially seeing the box score and seeing how Brandon England shot in and out. But at first, you could see that a lot of players were definitely trying to get comfortable, trying to feel their way out of it, you know, go off some of that COVID rust. But all in all, I thought it was a good game. Slow at times, sloppy, but it was a good game. I was definitely impressed to see that the Jazz came to play, especially knowing that the Pelicans were, you know, they're fighting for an opportunity in the playoffs this season. I think a lot of people want them in the playoffs, so I was definitely excited to see what they're missing by Donovish, you know. For me, the main thing that I saw, the tell of the tape was the problem that the Pelicans have been having all season alone, and that's finishing games. When we look at the first half, we look at the first half, Pelicans had a good first. They outscored the Jazz in the first quarter, second quarter. The third quarter was fairly equal, but then they got outscored by 10 in the fourth quarter. That's been the tell of their season. Again, but that comes with having a young team. That's one of the things that you gotta learn how to do. Whether you have Zion on the court or not, you gotta be able to finish games. You gotta be able to finish games. Again, you know, if you don't look at the score, if you just watch that game, it looked as if the Pelicans were winning the whole game, and they gave it away at the end. We can take a look at the box score here. Some of the players, basically what we saw in the fourth quarter was we just kind of saw Donovan Mitchell take over with his playmaking ability towards the end of the game. Those guys had a really good game. Royce O'Neal, I think he did a good job filling in for Bogdanovich. Donovan Mitchell, obviously, with 25 and five. That was solid. Rudy Gobert started off slow with a little bit of foul trouble, 14 and 12. That was solid as well. I don't know if this was really the surprise of the day. We had talked about Jordan Clarkson, you know, kind of being that go-to player off the bench with 23, five, and three. I think that he was the difference maker in this game. They really didn't have a player that could guard Jordan Clarkson off that pick and roll. What they constantly did over and over is they just spammed that pick and roll with Rudy Gobert and just created bad matchups for the guards. And even Mike Conley, at the end of the game, was able to get to the basket. We're gonna look at the Pelican stats, man. Obviously, Brandon Ingram had a great game. I love what I saw from him, especially early on. I hate the fact that they just continuously kept taking Zion out. He never got rhythm, but when he was on the court, he was their most efficient player. Again, he had 13 points in 15 minutes. I don't like the fact that he had zero rebounds on the day. I would've loved, and that can be a testament to his conditioning or his legs not being there because he didn't get the practice time he needed, but the guys did. The players that we needed to show up, Derek Favors and Lonzo Ball, they definitely did not show up, at least on the scoring end. Lonzo was able to play make a little bit, but he got himself into foul trouble and he kinda took his self out of rhythm. And then, toward the ends of the game, he was almost a defensive liability because he looked like he was playing defense like he was trying not to foul because of the foul trouble that he was in. So I think, again, that is just about youth learning how to win games, close games. That was definitely a game that they should've won. And when we look at it, if they don't make the playoffs, this is definitely gonna be a game that they look back on and just wish they could redo that fourth quarter. But again, these are the growing pains that come with a young team, man. That game was a great game to start off the official NBA restart. But the big time game of the day, the prime time game of the day, was the Los Angeles Lakers and the LA Clippers, man. That was the big time game of the day and it didn't disappoint, man, from start to finish. Now, I had picked the Clippers to win. I had picked the Clippers to win this game. And they started off extremely sluggish, man. They started off extremely sluggish, got outscored by 12 in the first quarter. They let LA score 35 points in the first quarter. That ended up being the primary difference in the game. What did you like about what the Lakers did in that first half and what did you not like? Or were you even disappointed in how the Clippers came out in the first quarter? And so, I was really just knowing that this was gonna be just a feel-out game for the Clippers at the end of the day. But what I liked, what I saw out of the Lakers, I just liked how they were really trying to get Anthony Davis involved from the jump. Because at the end of the day, I think LeBron knows that team will go as far as Anthony Davis wants to go. I'm not saying LeBron isn't important or anything like that. But LeBron is very aware that he has a big advantage. He has a big, he has arguably one of the best talents he's ever played with. Especially somebody who was a game-changer on both ends of the court. Can literally shut down your defensive player, I mean, your best offensive player, and also come down and get you third. You know what I'm saying? And then, he's shooting the ball the way he is. That's just a nightmare match-up. At the end of the day, on both ends. So, I think I really just liked how they got Anthony Davis involved. That was one thing I liked. You could definitely see LeBron was trying to play himself into the game. He didn't look in shape. Not necessarily in shape, but he just didn't look very in-game shape. Like, he's really ready to play. You saw him fumbling a few times with the ball. Trying to just feel his way out through the game. I would definitely like to see him a little bit more aggressive attacking the rim, but that could be part of him just missing a step for a little bit. Not by any means, I mean, LeBron missing a step is not a bad thing. Cause, you know, he's still LeBron at the end of the game. But, you could just see that he wasn't really all the way there, especially today. And that was the same with the first game that they played against the Clippers. You know, he played his way into the game, and at the end of the day, great players want to do what they can do. He closed the game out. So, that was something I liked. The sluggishness, for the Clippers, I wasn't surprised. I mean, I was more surprised, I'm more so, they got two very laid back, humble players at the end of the day. When you look at that Clippers roster, they got two players who really sit, who really kind of let the game come to them. You know, they don't really, they don't really show too much of their emotions like that. They just come, they show, they play ball, they lock you down and you'll be dirty at the end of the day. So, I wasn't really, I wasn't really too, like, pressed about them, like, being down early because those are two dogs at the end of the day that are gonna come in and give you, and come in and contribute and really keep your team in the game. I think it just showed us how important Lou Williams and Montrez and even Pat Bev being in the lineup is because they were playing guys like, they were playing, well, Reggie Jackson, of course, who's a quality starting point guard, but they were playing him much longer. They needed him as the third scoring option. They're just trying to find buckets any and every way. You know, they had guys like Jermichael Green stepping up. And I think the Morris twin, he didn't really contribute as much as I thought he would today. I think that was a big, a big knock, but I don't think that's gonna happen the next time they play. So, if we're talking about the result and the first half and everything, I'm not too surprised. I think I kind of expected this. It was definitely weird watching it at first, but then towards the end of the game, it felt like a real basketball game. At first, I was like, man, this, you know, bubble basketball ain't really kicking it for me, but I started to rock with it towards the end because it felt like a game. You know, when you saw Paul George hitting them threes and guys getting hype, you could kind of hear the players talking a little bit more, chirping. It really started to feel like a game. So, that's one thing. I think it was just a lot of nuances for a lot of people getting themselves back into shape, being off for, what, three months, four months, almost. So, it was just a lot of new things happening, and when there are new things happening, you're gonna expect for there to be sluggishness, sloppiness, turnovers, little bits of that. I really honestly think eight games isn't enough, but we're gonna have to see. You know, they're gonna have to make some shape. So, yeah, I think it was a great first game, especially seeing them two play. I think it was a good kickoff to the buffer. So, yeah. No, I liked the game today, man. Again, just after seeing the scrimmage games, the Lakers did show me that they are a little bit more locked in than they thought. J.R. Smith definitely didn't look ready today, but again, with Caruso, he came off the bench, gave him some good minutes in the end, especially at the end of the game, he had a really clutch defensive stop. So, if guys like that can come in and do their role, the Lakers are gonna be tough to beat, but they just look more locked in. The Clippers look like a team that, they would look like a good team with no chemistry. A lot of their points came off ISO plays or isolation sets. Nothing felt organic, and that's only because guys don't know how to play each other. I heard one of the commentators during the game say that this was the Clippers' 29th different starting lineup. And that, even for a good team, I mean, you may be able to beat some bad teams or average teams like that, but when you're looking at one of the elite teams in the NBA like the Lakers, I mean, if you don't have that chemistry, then you're not gonna win. And I saw it on a few plays, I saw a couple turnovers where they're just throwing the ball into empty gaps, thinking guys would be where they were supposed to be and guys weren't there. And that, again, that comes from knowing players' tendencies. I think this might've been Reggie Jackson's second start with that group. Again, they're missing key guys, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams. Shamit didn't look the same. He couldn't make a shot. His legs weren't there. It just looked bad. The Moores twin, I don't know where his mind was. He had some open looks that he just completely missed. His defense wasn't there. He wasn't locked in today. So it just definitely shows with the Clippers that chemistry and just not being fully prepared can get you into trouble. Beverly started the game off just getting in foul trouble. Towards the end of the game, towards the end of the game, he did play a little bit better, at least offensively. Defensively, his legs just weren't there. He couldn't really attack or get up into people like he normally does. So that was the tell of the tape today. But as far as stats-wise for the overall game, the Lakers really dominated that first quarter. That gave them the cushion they needed to go ahead and win that game. Now, Paul George did have 30 points, 35 and three. Kawhi Leonard had 28. But surprisingly, the Clippers known for their bench, they had the best bench protection in the NBA this year. The bench did not show up. The only player off the bench in double figures was Patrick Beverly with 12, one and one. And what I was disappointed most with was Doc Rivers never went back to Joakim Noah. Joakim Noah actually had a really good, yeah, he had a really good first half. Now, you didn't see it in the points, but his production and energy and effort was there. And he never went back to him. So I don't know if it was, he's worried about saving him, saving his legs. But for Joakim Noah to only play 10 minutes that game with what he did in the first quarter, that was surprising. It looked like they chose to go with Jermichael Green with his shooting for the rest of the game. Yeah, Pat Patterson as well. But even combined, those two guys only gave you 13 points. They weren't giving you the defense you needed. At the end of the game, we saw LeBron get to the basket easy on Jermichael Green for an easy layup. Reggie Jackson, I don't want to say he struggled, but he had some critical turnovers in the fourth quarter there. Like I said, without some of those key bench players, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, without their guys being fully prepared, Shamit and Beverly, they don't look like the same Clipper team. And they definitely look like a team that does not have any chemistry whatsoever. So hopefully, man, hopefully that can change tomorrow. I really want to see if that can change the next time they come out. But these games are really essentially, they're all meaningless for the top two seeds in the West. Seeding doesn't necessarily matter. What's up? One thing I'll definitely say, if I'm Doc Rivers, I'm actually going into this kind of like in a good mood. Not necessarily, I'm not taking moral victories or nothing like that, but you are missing a lot of key components. And to see the Lakers scrape to get this win, and I'm not saying the Lakers are a full strength either, but I'm taking a lot of positives away from it. One being that Paul George looks very, he looks very much ready to play basketball. You know when that shot is, you know when that shot is going down, that's money man Pete. So that's a good take from that. Then, you know, Kawhi Leonard, who was struggling throughout those three preseason games, he looked like he kind of got it going a little bit. His jumpers only going to go up from here. And then you get Lou Williams and Montrose Harrell back. So at the end of the day, you know, this is supposed to be quote unquote, the best team in the West. They just scraped, they just scraped by with a win. And Anthony Davis kind of gave them one of the best showings we've seen from Anthony Davis. You know, not necessarily defensively or anything, but I'm talking about from the three level scoring that he saw from Anthony Davis as far as knocking down jump shots and stuff like that. And he hasn't, we haven't thrown all the bodies that we can throw at him yet. So I think if I'm Doc Rivers, I'm kind of going into this like it's only up from here. You know what I'm saying? And I think there's way more growth that the Clippers can do than the Lakers at the end of the day. I mean, the Lakers, their positive is that they got a little bit of bench scoring from Deion Wade. That was a big upside today. I think that we have to talk about that. I got the sense that even in the first half, even when the Clippers were down, it felt like they were struggling to find any rhythm. And at the end of the day, the Clippers were in the game the entire time. So it felt like the Lakers were playing some of their best basketball while the Clippers were playing some of their worst basketball, but they were still in the mix. They were still in the game. So I think that could be a problem for the Lakers if the Clippers actually find some consistency or rhythm, because they were playing extremely bad basketball today. You know, ISO basketball almost on every single set. I don't think that's going to cut it. But again, once they get their horses back, I think they'll be good. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think it's only up from there. And like I said, I think the upside is if they're clicking on all cylinders, like it's, that's a nightmare for a lot of teams. And I don't think the Lakers have the firepower to really stay with that. So yeah, I think they're going to be fine, really and truly. This is kind of what I expected. So, yeah. One thing, another thing I want to say though, I mean, we got to give some credit to that man, you know what I'm saying? Shout out to LeBron, man. We definitely critiqued his defense. We definitely critiqued him really hard. He didn't have the best game. And I was ready to come on here and talk some trash about him. And I don't even talk about LeBron. But honestly, shout out to him. The last like three defensive plays, he really locked up, man. He, especially that last possession, you know, last possession to end the half on Kawhi Leonard. And then he played that last possession to end the game. He shut Kawhi Leonard's drive down. Then he switched on to Paul George and contested the shot. And forced Paul George to start his offense with seven seconds left all the way out of the half court line. So, if any coach will tell you, that's a great defensive possession because he switched multiple times and he had them start their offense way out, way more extended than they actually wanted to. So, I thought that was very impressive to see. You know, it just showed a little bit of competitive edge from him. And that's definitely something we need to see more of in playing defense. I think at times, you know, you can see that he's lost his step, guys kind of driving past him. But when it comes down to it, I've seen him lock up a few times this year. So, it looks like he's taking a bit of pride about it. You know, he's definitely showing us that he still kind of got that ability to play and like good defense. And I'm not talking about just the chase down blocks or those shoot the passing lane steals. I'm talking about actually sitting down on your man, sliding your feet and really getting down and locking up. So, I thought that was very impressive to see today. And I definitely got to give credit to where credit is due. Guarding two of the best scorers, you know, that we've seen in the league. So yeah, so yeah. Yeah, I liked his defense today. I saw that in a couple, especially in the fourth quarter. Some possessions where when the shot clock was running out, he pressed up on Paul George, made him make a bad play. And then at the end of the game on that last play, to be guarding Kawhi and then to switch off and then to be guarding Paul George. And that was two crucial stops in one play. So that just lets us know he still has his legs. He still has his game. And then a lot of times we just take them for granted. One thing that I was definitely disappointed in today, and this was across both games. The one thing that I was disappointed, I hope the NBA can get this cleaned up just a little bit, but I thought the reffing of these games was kind of bad. The refs call, they started the games off. They didn't call it consistently. Normally you will find refs, they'll call a consistent game. If they're calling these calls in the first half, they'll call the same calls in the second half. And I saw that it almost got the sense that they were changing up how they reffed as the game went on. So there were calls that they were making in the first half that they weren't making in the third or even in the fourth. And it just looked to me, it looked like even the refs were a bit rusty in live action that actually counts. So hopefully- I have a question for you real quick. Do you feel like the refs might've changed up the way they reffed because of them now being a gym where there's no fans to really yell at them and kind of dictate? Because at the end of the day, we know refs are people and they're going to hear stuff, they hear stuff from fans, they hear the crowd go, ooh, and they try to make a makeup call or something like that. And they try to go for a home court advantage. There is no home court advantage. So do you feel like the refs are now reffing kind of how they want to reff? Yeah, it changes the game. It changes the flow of the game. Again, you don't get those, there's no such thing as home team fouls now, because again, the refs don't even get the sense that there's a home team, especially when you're dealing with two of the top teams in the league. So that, again, this is why I feel like playing in this bubble is going to lead to more upsets because again, it's just going to be more balanced across the board. And I think one of the top four seeds are going to go down in one of the first or second rounds of the playoffs. And- And we're going to see more sweeps. I think that's definitely what we're going to see, because there's no home court advantage. Yup. So- No, go ahead. Did you hear me? Yeah, go ahead. What'd you say? Oh, I just said, I think we're going to see more sweeps. I agree with you that we're going to see an upset, but I think we're also going to see more sweeps, like, because you know, the home court kind of will those like role players on, you know, where we see a role player drop 18 and you know, he had a big game, hit some threes and stuff, where you get guys like, old guys like Jared Dudley messing around and playing fairly good, feeding off the crowd. Guys who feed off the crowd aren't really going to be able to do that as much because they're just in a gym where there is this fake noise. You know, you see the fake, you see the fans. They're real fans, but they're kind of like not really there. So it's not really going to hype up the players as much. Now it comes down to who can really ball. I feel like at the end of the day, I do feel like we will also see something like people as we quote unquote say, like practice players. We'll see some of those players like kind of show up, people who, you know, we know kind of fold under like the bright lights. Right. They might end up playing well. So it's going to be really interesting, man. I'm slightly excited. I think today's game has made me a little bit more interested. At first I was definitely down in it. I was watching the games like, man, this is kind of lame like pace of play and everything, but it's going to be a little interesting, man. I think so. I liked it. I liked the games. I mean, I kind of liked the flow of them. And then, you know, obviously I miss having a crowd noise in that atmosphere or that there's a home team and there's an underdog, but again, it's NBA basketball. We got to take what we got is better than nothing. And so that's going to take us into tomorrow's slated game. So we got six games tomorrow. First game of the day is going to be the Magic and the Nets. We're going to have the Suns, the Wizards, Grizzlies, Trail Blazers. That's going to be that marquee matchup that I'm going to be looking at. We got the Celtics and Bucks. Again, another great marquee matchup right there. Two great teams in the East. We got the Kings and the Spurs. And then we got, we end the day. It's probably going to probably be the most exciting matchup of the day with the Rockets and the Mavericks. Again, I look forward to another great day of basketball. Which one of those matchups intrigue you the most? And what player do you think is going to stand out the most tomorrow? Matchups that intrigue me the most? I think- Just one, just one, just one matchup. Oh, oh, I think that's kind of tough. I think I'm more interested to see, speaking of this though, like just real quick, wouldn't it be crazy to see the Mavericks versus the Clippers first round? I'm just saying, that'd be a little crazy, you know? But I think that's going to be the thunder calling to that spot. But anyway, back to my marquee matchup. I think the marquee matchup is probably going to be that. That Bucks and, that Bucks and Celtics game. Even though the Bucks are missing Bledsoe, I think it's still going to be a great matchup because we're going to get to see some Giannis action, see what he, how locked in he is, you know, see if he's improved more, which is crazy to say, but you definitely all know that he can improve some more as far as like his skill and his technicality, but see if, you know, he's knocking down jump shots and stuff like that. Jason Tatum, he's, he's somebody that's impressed me this year. I think he's taken a step. So, so yeah. And I want to see, I want to see, I just want to see that matchup because that's a potential Eastern Conference matchup. I'm not saying that's my Eastern Conference pick, but that's the potential, so. Right. Go ahead. Before you define this matchup. So I think, I think that's, that's going to be real interesting, man. And this has some implication, maybe not as much for the Bucks, but you know, the Celtics are still trying to play themselves into a second, second seed. And I know they don't want to be in that fourth seed. No, I like, I like the Grizzlies. I mean, I like the Celtics and Bucks matchup again, but we're, I mean, even at, even with that, that matchup, even though it's two great teams out of the East, again, these are two teams that have, that are guaranteed playoff spots. My matchup of the day is going to be the Grizzlies Blazers. The winner of this game is, you can put the other team at a serious disadvantage. And because again, you, you, you can jump up so much. You can create that separation that you need that could actually be beneficial once you get to towards this, the end of this eight game run. So I know the Grizzlies 12, 12 Blazer matchup between two teams that are trying to get into the playoffs. That's going to be highly competitive. That should be a shootout. The Grizzlies didn't look that well. They didn't look that good in the scrimmage games. They just looked like they were slow. I thought as a young team, they will come out and play a lot better. The Blazers, on the other hand, looked, played extremely well. And then, and they have all of their horses back as well. So with Zach Collins back, with Nurkick back. I mean, but Trevor Reese is going to be a big, Trevor Reese is out. Yeah, he's going to be a big missing piece. Well, it doesn't, it doesn't really hurt him as much primarily because now they've moved Melo to the small four, which he looked, he looked better there. And when you got all that defensive help, now when you got Zach Collins, a seven footer who can play power forward or center, and you got Nurkick in the game at the same time, when you got two seven footers in the game at the same time, that's going to make up for a lot. Even with, even with Trevor Reese, he wasn't playing up to expectation with the Blazers so far anyway. So I don't think that's going to hurt them as much, especially when you got some of those newer guys that they brought up from the G League that can kind of make up for some of that, the defensive lapses that CJ and Dame have all the time out there on the perimeter. But I think it's going to be an exciting matchup. We know the Trail Blazers struggle to guard the perimeter and the Grizzlies got one of the best point guards in the league. So that's going to be an interesting matchup going into tomorrow. But what we're going to be doing, I want you guys to make sure that you are watching for our next video. Next video is going to be another FanDuel video. I'm going to, I'm going to be breaking down, I'm going to be breaking down my FanDuel picks for tomorrow. So again, if you're a fantasy sports player, make sure you check out the next video that's going to be dropping in the morning. So, so again, if you, if you, with the game starting at 1130, you're going to want really, really make sure that you check in with our fantasy sports video, check out our FanDuel picks. You know, if you want to follow our tips and strategies. What's up Jack? Oh, I said at 2.30 Eastern time. Yeah, 2.30 Eastern time. But again, yeah, yeah. Cause I'm on the West coast. But again, check in early because at the end of the day, if you're playing fantasy sports, you want to see what's going on early so you can get your lineup set. And then, you know, if things change, if players aren't eligible, if players can't play due to injury or sickness, then you can make adjustments later. But we'll definitely be posting that video tomorrow. But again, this has been another great video. I appreciate you all for stopping in with us today, helping us out with this NBA recap. Two great games today. Looking forward to seeing all six games tomorrow. It looks like it's going to be another great day of basketball. Magic next game is going to start the day off. And if you guys want to tune into that game, I'm probably going to be doing a show while that game is playing, just kind of breaking down what I see during that game, during the show. So again, if you guys want to jump in those comments and let us know how you feel about these games, just let me know. Hit us up on Instagram or Twitter. If you want to be a part of that show as well, then we can get that set up for you. But again, it's been another great show. Jad, you got anything you want to say on your way out? I mean, I'm happy. You know, NBA's back. So I'm happy to camp on Black Lives Matter. Hey, it's FYF Sports, man. Been a good episode, man. Make sure again, you like, comment, subscribe, hit that notification bell, grinding to 10K. And it's FYF Sports and we out.