Gerald initially wanted this to be a short podcast but it turned out to be one of our longest and I think one of our best. Great stuff from Gerald, Rafael, and me about the Lakers and Blazers as well as the Clippers and Mavs. Some great stories from Rafael about watching Luka in person in the Euro Finals when he became the player you recognize today. Give the pod a listen. I think you’ll enjoy it despite it being pretty long. Gerald, as always, keeps everything humming and together. Don’t forget that 5-star review. Thanks.

‘Spida’ Mitchell is on a tear. Dude has a lot of Mamba in him and it’s nice to see how Kobe’s off court work has been one of the things passed on to the generations of players that came after. Denver might be looking at a Philly-style exit: one in which a change will almost certainly be made after the fact. Going to take something special for Denver to move on this season.

Philly is going to get a shake up. While the Process is a nifty marketing slogan it has yet to result in anything other than a couple decent playoff runs. Not sure the coach is the issue, either, feels more like Elton Brand wanted to show the world that two skilled bigs could be as good as a team that chooses to go small in the big moments of a game. To be fair to The Process…they gave up on Fultz. Having his skill set alongside Emiid and Simmons would have made this team very difficult to defend. They traded away role shooters for volume scorers and they didn’t move Heaven and Earth to keep Jimmy Butler. While some of that is on Brown (not making Jimmy feel absolutely necessary and a key leader on the team) it’s also on the front office which has struggled to move on in the post-Hinkie era.

Boston and Toronto look very engaged, locked in on defense and they know where they want to get points from either in the flow of the game or out of sets. Feels more and more like it could be Toronto Boston as they both look a little more in-tune that Milwaukee does. Milwaukee has the talent but can they get enough out of their “others”? Both Boston and Toronto have shown they can take away what you want and are willing to let some other dude beat you. That’s a recipe for playoff success.

The Next Year Nets means we get to just say ‘Next!’ and move on. They’re missing so many dudes the only issue being was this an accurate test to see what Toronto can bring to a playoff game. In short, no, but we’ve seen how Nick Nurse has that whole squad bought in so it doesn’t appear to matter as much as it might to, say, the Bucks and their inability to sweep the lowly Magic.

Lastly we get to Dallas/Clippers. Wow, nobody saw this coming. We all thought Luka would be out, turns out it was Porzingis. We all thought George and Leonard would be too much for the Dallas defense to coral, turns out the legions of lanky Clipper defenders doesn’t have any answer at all for Luka, ankle and all. Leonard is doing his thing but there isn’t the same…destiny? Drive? Not too sure. Only thing I know is that team has been hard to get a read on. Too many guys in and out, the best players have barely played, and Doc hasn’t had the same passion he showed in Boston for a good long time. Might be, if they get nipped in the first round, that Doc moves to the front office and they give Brett Brown a shot in LA next season. Probably not, but I wanted to give LT something to obsess over so he can move on from the mock draft, lol.

Good stuff from Gerald and Raphael! Kudos, guys!

Excellent discussion of the Luka and the Mavs win over the Clippers. I agree 100% with Raphael that Luka has made the jump to top-five NBA superstar. Don’t know if the Mavs have enough to pull off the first round upset, but I’m rooting for them. Don’t see PG continuing to shoot so poorly.

Great points by Gerald about the similarities between LeBron and Luka. I agree with Rafael that Luka is a unicorn and totally different player than we have ever seen before. He’s like a mix between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird but I think Gerald is right that the closest comparison to Luka in today’s game is LeBron. Both are so savvy and powerful and nearly impossible to stop when they attack the basket.

Raphael’s point that the Clippers were built to beat the Lakers is ironic because Luka is doing to them exactly what LeBron did in their last matchup. He’s forcing switches and hunting weakest defenders just like LeBron did to LouWill. The problems the Clips are having with Luka show their Achilles hell vs. LeBron.

LOL. Gerald trades with another mock drafter to get Lakers pick at 28. He was tantalized by SG Jahmius Ramsey but goes for 18-year old French PG Theo Maledone.

But the next two picks might have been better. Gonzaga stretch five Killian Tillie, 45% 3-point shooter, went 29 and Arizona sharpshooting PG Nico Mannion went 30.

Maledone is a great prospect but at 18, he’s too young to help Lakers whereas Tillie and Mannion are older and both proven elite shooters, which is what the Lakers always need.

But fun show by Gerald and Rafael.

Great time with Gerald, Rafael, and Sean. Give us a listen. We took it easy on Blazers fan Rafael but still had a lot of fun celebrating the Lakers great defense, LeBron and AD’s domination, and great game from Alex Caruso.

Yes, it was good to see Danny finally play some great D and hit a couple of threes. KCP was great tonight.

Yes, it was good to see Danny finally play some great D and hit a couple of threes. KCP was great tonight.

Going to see another dominant performance by the Lakers tonight. Need to keep the pedal to the metal and rip the Blazers heart out of their chests.

Great win for the Lakers and I enjoyed my time with Rafael, Tom, Sean, and Jamie. Looking forward to doing it again.

GREAT win last night but we can’t that be a one-trick-pony affair. Need that same focus and intensity ever night from here on out.

Just finished listening and some great points from Gerald, Rafael, Sean, and me plus last minute appearance by Jamie after putting his daughter to bed and watching game recording.

Give it a listen. Very informative and spirited conversations led by a host extraordinaire in Gerald. I know you’ll enjoy it. Don’t forget to give us that five star review.

Meant to post here awhile back and remembered the other night when Rafael referenced back to it the other night.

While I don’t agree with his prediction of Blazers in 6 (got Lakers in & so we’re really not that far apart) I had thought it worth mentioning how that could come to be. The first, most obvious reason is Dame. The dude plays his best when the game is on the line and finds yet another gear in the playoff crunch time. Secondly, also obvious, is C.J. “unheralded superstar” McCollum. His solid mid-range game and has added to it over the years on both ends.

For me the wild card is Nurkic. When that guys is on he can be dominant on both ends. He’s like a better version of Vlade Divac in his prime Sacramento years, not the scorer we hoped he could be as a Laker but rather settling to an all-around role of defensive stalwart, offensive release valve and tertiary play-maker.

As Raphael mentioned, and we all saw in game 1, the Blazers are in playoff mode. They had to fight and claw their way to the 8 seed like no team before them ever has. The rotations are set, the guys that they are bringing back know the system so there’s no learning curve, and Terry Stotts is hella under-rated as a coach.

Two games, with the benefit of hindsight I can say going forward that losing Zach Collins hurts them. Having him available to bang with Morris, and even AD and stretching the floor, playing his tenacious version of basketball would have given the Blazers another solid contributor in a short rotation. Short rotations can be a double-edged sword

Lillard 34, McCollum Nurkic 16
Davis 28, James 23, Kuzma 14

Lakers shoot 5 of 32
Outscored by 24 from deep.

Agreed. A frustrating game to say the least. But we will even the series on Thursday and get back to playing better basketball.

Jamie and Sean (Magicman) join Gerald and Tom in pre-playoffs podcast as the Lakers prepare for the Portland Trail Blazers. Give us a listen and join the fun.

Predictions:

LakerTom: Lakers in 5.
Magicman: Lakers in 6.
Jamie: Lakers in 7
Gerald: ?

Great to have our new co-blog editor Sean ‘Magicman’ Grice join us on the playoffs preview podcast. Great to have Sean’s input as we start our quest to win the bubble championship. Great first podcast, Sean!

Thanks so much for listening Buba!