Dave DeFore (2:32)

Sixteen ring a number from like, ring a bell for me.

Zena Keda (2:35)

Same number as he has technicals this season.

Dave DeFore (2:39)

Boom, There you go. Yes, that's right.

Zena Keda (2:41)

He also got his fourth dunk of the season last night.

James Edwards (2:44)

Wow.

Zena Keda (2:45)

And he only had three the previous two seasons combined. Shout out to Law Murray for those stats, for pulling those out. Okay, what do you, what do you think about the Lakers last night? I mean, the Cavs, this is no pushover. This is. Yeah, current four seed in the east, you know, they were back to full health. Jared Allen was out there, and the Lakers just made them look like they were a G league team.

Dave DeFore (3:07)

I mean, that's the point, right? Like to make a Cavs team that's supposed to be surging in the east, that's supposed to be a competitor in the East. And for Luka to walk into a 40 ball the way he did off of missing a game and for them to take the lead early, There was a very small snippet of the game in the first quarter where you're like, Oop, wait, the Cavs are running even though LeBron comes out with this emphatic blot. And that made you dazed to say the Lakers about to blow out the Cavs. And it was for a few little minutes there that the Cavs got an early run, early lead, and then LeBron opened it up and it was just like the Cavs were drinking from the fire hose. It was just relentless scoring. And the Lakers did a really great job of clogging the paint and rendered James Harden, Evan Mobley, and Jared Allen pretty much non existent. Jared Allen had a great second quarter, but those three typically have a really good offensive game, but they have an even better defensive game in this game. They allowed 135 points per 100 possessions. They were non existent then. On top of the fact that they were clogging the paint, the Lakers were doing so well, the Cavs couldn't hit outside shots. So that was non existent. On the other side of the ball, Lucas having what he wants. Jake Laravia is making me a proud Demon Deacon playing on both sides of the ball perfectly. He was, I think he was five for five on the night. I mean, he was excellent and they were having fun. Like, that's probably the, the scariest part about the Lakers. And anytime an NBA team is out there playing and like laughing it up and smiling and, and do you know, doing the body bumps on the way back to the bench and you're gearing up for the playoffs, that's Scary, Dave, that's scary.

Zena Keda (4:51)

Jake Laravia should be happy. This is, these are the easiest shots he's ever taken in his life. Lot of dunks.

Dave DeFore (4:57)

Yes.

Zena Keda (4:58)

The Lakers, like you just mentioned, the chemistry feels like they're, they're clicking on all cylinders. They played Bronnie James in the first quarter of this game.

Dave DeFore (5:08)

That's right.

Zena Keda (5:09)

I don't know. J.J. redick is just cooking from a different recipe book right now. And, and they, honestly, they really just look good. DeAndre Ayden, it's another nice game for him. 18 points, nine rebounds.

Dave DeFore (5:20)

He's rolling to the basket well. He's finishing through contact well. Or in traffic. And it seems like seas part ways. Like it wasn't just Ayton Jackson. Hayes got all these wide open dunks as well. It was, it was very interesting to see the Laker when you have what Danny Green called before the game, the third best option, the best third option ever in the NBA's history. And LeBron James, it opens the floor up so wide and the bigs have just been eaten. For the Lakers, it's a little bit

Zena Keda (5:52)

like, I don't know, maybe it's like when, you know, Magic Johnson had Kareem, you know, like end of his career and you had Magic, you had all these good young guys out there with Kareem. I don't know, maybe it's something like that. It's funny that that Laker sort of history rhymes a little bit full cyclical, but the other thing is that, you know, those three guys, LeBron, Luca and Austin Reeves, when they're out there, there's so much gravity. You know, Luca has been on a heater. Like, we've been talking about 13 straight 30 point games. He's had a ridiculous last, like, month, month and a half. I mean, just absolutely on fire from outside. So you're guarding him 30ft from the basket, and now all of a sudden, everybody else's life gets easier. And then you've got LeBron as sort of this guy who gets to cut and score in transition. And I, I don't know, I'm starting to, I, I didn't take this team seriously when they first started this run where they started to, to build chemistry and turn it on and look like a, a serious team. But now I'm starting to see, I don't know, maybe I'm, maybe I'm drinking the Laker Kool Aid here. But they're scary, and they're scary for a lot of the reasons that we've said that they could Be scary if they could be healthy and figure out how to defend come playoff time. Because Luca right now, in any given series, he could be the best player in that series against anybody. Against Jokic, against Wemby, against Shea. It doesn't matter.

Dave DeFore (7:16)

So I'm particularly thinking about what's so scary about them, is that they're starting faster and the Lakers have an all. Like this season, it's been iffy about, you know, what their third quarters look like. I mean, their. Their first quarters look like. But through three quarters last night against the Cavs, they put up 110 points on average this season. They've done 88 points through three quarters. So not only has their offense exploded, they're also playing defense really well. They're playing on a string, they're rotating really well. And so when you see a team clicking on all cylinders on both sides of the ball in that way, and more people are stepping up as offensive weapons sooner in the game, you don't need that warmup that we saw in another primetime game that we're going to talk about after this. But break. That's what's scary. They're clicking faster, they're clicking sooner. More people are stepping up. The second unit is coming in ready to provide something, some spark, whether it's on the defensive end or on the offensive end, particularly like Jake Lara was that person tonight. But that. That is all you want when it comes to March and going into April, is everyone now knowing. Here's your role and a coach that knows how to play the game to ensure that people are being put in the. On the floor, in the right rotations and at the right times of games. If Bronnie got to get in the first quarter for folks to get. Let's go with it. Let's go with it.

Zena Keda (8:43)

I don't know why that happened. I. I can't tell you. I'm. I'm honestly, I was befuddled to. To see that happen. But it worked. Whatever J.J. redick, you know, it worked. You're pushing all the right buttons.

Dave DeFore (8:55)

Yeah. Six Lakers getting it to double figures. You want that all night long against the Cavs? That's huge.

Zena Keda (9:01)

So the other night, we had WEMBY Go for 41. We had Shea go for 47. We had Luca last night go for 42. We got a real MVP race. And it feels like these guys are racing. It's not just that they're. They're not just playing basketball. I feel like there's a little bit of competition now happening between these Guys, I'm gonna throw. I mean, I think Jokic is in on this too. We've seen him flirting with all these 20, 20 games. I think down the stretch we're going to see these guys going for this

Dave DeFore (9:34)

award, especially as the media like us, as we start noticing just how close this is getting. And the Nuggets are about to pick it up, right? This is where they really cook in this last little bit of the season where they're. They're trying to figure out exactly what they want to do in terms of where they are in the Western Conference. The Lakers have been heating up. That helps the MVP race, obviously, when your team is doing better. And so maybe the MVP race, particularly when it came to Luka and Jokic, felt murky because their teams were kind of iffy earlier on in comparison to obviously Shai and Wemby having these phenomenal seasons, not only with their teams respectively, but also when they played against each other. It being incredibly competitive games. I feel like, yeah, they're absolutely going to be paying attention because it's going to be coinciding with where their teams end up as well. So the more they have to do to get their teams to the right position in order to get prepared for the playoffs, it's going to naturally lend itself to the MVP race as well. So, yeah, let's go with it.

Zena Keda (10:38)

Playoff race is definitely helping. The Nuggets have the Jazz tonight, so Jokic gonna have an easy one and the spurs have the Golden State warriors, so another easy one. Speaking of, Steph's coming back Sunday. I don't know. What's the point?

Dave DeFore (10:57)

Listen, I just spent an hour talking to Marcus Thompson about this decision of whether Stephen Curry should come back now, if he should come back at the play in, if he should come back, whatever. I think the more time you get, give to Stephen Curry to get a ramp up to just get ready to see what he looks like alongside Kristas Roingis to put him in situations where he doesn't have to win the game that keeps the season alive. I'm happy with. I'm cool with that.

Zena Keda (11:24)

Go and check out warriors plus minus with Xena and Marcus if you want to hear more of that conversation. Guys, stick around after the break. James Edwards is here and we're trying to figure out what's wrong with the Knicks.

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Zena Keda (14:41)

If I can steal a quote from Josh Hart, the Knicks are not heading in the right direction. Three game losing streak. They haven't beat a team over 500 since March 6th. And they lose by 17 to the Rockets. 111 94. Our man James Edwards is here. How you doing, buddy?

James Edwards (14:59)

I'm good. Tired as everybody is at this time of the year, but keep on moving, man.

Zena Keda (15:07)

Better than the Knicks right now, I'd say. What is. What is going on with these guys?

Grainger Announcer (15:13)

They.

Zena Keda (15:14)

They get off to another slow start. They're down 17 points in the first six minutes, and that is literally the game. They lose by 17, they get back to as close as four points, but they keep starting out in a giant hole. Having them claw their way back out, and then they have no juice to finish the game. I mean, this one wasn't even close going into the fourth quarter. I mean, they just. They had no legs. It's now three losses in a row against good teams. What are you seeing right now with the Knicks and what's going wrong?

James Edwards (15:43)

Well, I think the common theme that's kind of presented itself over the last. We can say two seasons now this year and last year, this starting group just hasn't worked at the level of the resources put into it. Last year it barely had a positive net rating. This year it barely has a positive net rating. Um, this group just hasn't really worked. Teams are putting athletic forwards on Cat, daring him to post up, therefore putting centers on Josh Hart, who is shooting the ball well and, and making them pay. Right. But there is a level of space that you lose when teams are willing to sag off Josh and not giving up Cat in. In the perimeter and. And allowing the space. Now, I think Josh has done a good job of taking advantage of that. I think he's shooting over 40% from 3. I've written many times. I think he's a pivotal part of this starting unit. But, yeah, it's just a group that just feels like at times there's not enough basketballs. Guys just. It. This. It just does not seem to work. We have two years of sample size now with this starting lineup. Mikel goes in and out of shooting well. Sometimes he doesn't get a lot of shots. Like tonight. OG sometimes doesn't get a lot of shots. Jalen gets blitzed tonight. Guys have to make shots when he's getting blitzed. So it's just a group that I. It's weird because they don't. They're not as bad in third quarters as they are to start games. And I almost wonder if it's not an old team. I'm not saying they're old, but they all are in their prime. And they all have a lot of miles on them. I almost wonder if they're like a car in the winter for us.

Zena Keda (17:21)

You gotta warm it up.

James Edwards (17:22)

You gotta warm it up. And I wonder if it takes a while for this, for this group to get warmed up. But like you said, when you play good teams, you can't find yourself in a 17 point hole. You can come back against the, the bad warriors or the Brooklyn Nets or the Indiana Pacers doing that, but Houston and others, it's, it's going to be hard to do that regularly.

Dave DeFore (17:43)

Dang shots fired at the Warriors. Just catching strays here.

James Edwards (17:46)

Okay, well the Knicks, the vert. The warriors, the Knicks played last week was like Steph was out.

Dave DeFore (17:55)

Yeah.

James Edwards (17:57)

The Warrior's not in full. I wouldn't say that.

Dave DeFore (18:00)

I think. No, the point of starting slow is huge. I mean we looked up the stat negative 46 point differential in the month of March and first quarters. That's not good. And it's not good just because of bad basketball. It's particularly not good because it's this time of year. This is where everything's supposed to start coalescing and get together and you're supposed to have that cohesion going into the playoffs. And we're, we could talk basketball all day long. We could talk about the fact that the Knicks are not great against switching defenses. We could talk about their inside out game is pretty much non existent, particularly in the way that Katt wants it. But that is more my interest. What does Kat want versus what this team wants versus what Mike Brown wants? That's what we're starting to pick up on is just a little bit of dissonance between the entirety of this organization.

James Edwards (18:51)

Listen, I think you make a very great point. Throughout the year it's been very clear that Cat is just not comfortable in the system. Anytime he gets an opportunity to say it, he's like, oh, we're still getting adjusted to the system. Whether that's game 14, 38, 76, whatever. Mike Brown has said that he's made adjustments to put stuff in their free flowing offense where there's isolation stuff for him, where there's post up stuff from him. I think, I think we look at like the shot attempts with Cat and it's like, oh, the offense isn't there to generate him shots. Well, teams are sending doubles. When he does post up, he himself is not shooting the three ball with the regularity that somebody of his efficiency should. I think he turns down a lot of like good looks from threes to try to get to the rim. And sometimes it works out for him, sometimes it doesn't. I think that is to put to, to place the blame all around. I think there's times when maybe he is rolling and because they don't always call plays, maybe they should. Like, there's times where they should have. Like, if cats rolling, let's get Cat the ball. I think it's just a. It's a. I don't know. I think it's a. It's a weird situation where they know what they. The best version of them looks like. We saw it against Denver where they just pummeled the Nuggets on the road from start to finish. We're great on offense, put up 147 points. We're great on defense. But then it's just, it just does not show itself consistently. And there are times when again, this offense is predicated on kind of read and react. They have, they have principles. He doesn't always call plays and I think that's a gift and a curse. Right? Like, I think the warriors do that. And you, I mean, Steph is Steph. But see, sometimes you don't know where shots are coming from when there's movement. But also with that, there's times when like, oh, Mel only has one shot. Maybe we should get him involved. Or Cat. So there, there's some give and take, right? But yeah, this group just. Even last year, as soon as team started putting wings on Cat and, and centers, therefore putting centers on Hart, the offense spiraled a little bit. Like, this is. This is nothing new. It does. Like, it's kind of hard to say it's the coach when it's the same thing that happened last year under a different coach too.

Zena Keda (21:09)

They just don't have a bread and butter. You know, it feels like when they need a bucket, they don't have a thing that they go to to get it right. There's no, all right, we're going to run Sprite spread, pick and roll and maybe we get an action on the side. There is none of that happening ever. And that, that's a huge problem. The Josh Hart part of this, as good as he plays and as important as he is when he shares the court with Brunson and Kat, that's a guy that they can sag off of and it makes it easier to go in double Cat when he gets the ball. I mean, do they need to make a lineup change? Like, is that the truth of what we're looking at right here? Like, I know it's so late in the season got six games left. It is a crazy time to even think about it. But I don't know how they get over this, especially come playoff time when they're spending so much more time in the half court against those set defenses and things are just going to get tougher.

James Edwards (22:01)

Well, I think that has been what most fans have wanted to see. I agree with you. I think it's too late. This is my thing and I agree with you. Like, when teams are able to sag off Josh, even though he's making them pay, it just right, it clouds stuff for Cat. But it's like, I mean, if Josh is hitting him at that clip, like we've. At the end of the day, they've won almost 50 games with seven left. Like it does, they find ways to win. What I will say is even somebody like Mikhail, right, Like, I know they traded six, seven picks for him, whatever, but he's a guy that has a lot of miles on him. They're expecting him to be the primary point of attack defender in those starting units. And I'm. That's not what he's best at as a defender. He's better off the ball, but who else are you going to put on the ball? Josh does it sometimes against bigger guards. I've seen him defend Brandon Ingram. Willie bigger wings. I've seen him defend Brandon Ingram. Well, they put him on KD some tonight. But when you say let's switch the starting lineup, the alternatives, especially now, are like, okay, so you either go big with Mitch in the lineup and that. I don't know if that necessarily solves any of the offensive problems. It maybe helps the defensive stuff a little bit to start games. Okay, then the next one is. Landry Shamit, who has been out for the last four or five games, has played more minutes this season than he has in three or four years. It's been really good at the point of attack, has shot the ball well most of the year. He's. It's really slipped in March and I wonder if that's because he's played more minutes now than he has in a long time in his career. So now the next person you go to is Miles McBride, who just missed the last two months with a sports hernia surgery. He admitted today, the doctors said, like, that's just part of the process, like he's gonna play with pain. We thought that he had a. He came back against OKC and left the game holding his. His kind of groin area. And it looked like he might be done for a while, but but he said that the doctors told him that this is something that he's just going to have to learn to play with now as it. The muscles expand and he gets used to that. So then you, then you start asking is, should they start Jordan Clarkson, who has been really good for the last 10 something games, but do you. Is he, is he. Can you put him in a starter's role? Right. So the alternatives right now to me don't look as appealing. I just, I go back to this. This team to me is not constructed in a way that you win at a uber high level in the NBA. They don't have a plethora of players. And I, by a plethora, I mean like more than two who can break down a defender off the dribble and create advantages. Jalen can break a guy off the dribble, get into the paint and get kickouts after that. The Josh is probably the second best one at that. Right. Like this isn't a team that has Andrew Nemhard, Pascal Siako, Siakam, Tyrese, Halliburton. Even Andrew Nemhard was doing it in the playoffs.

Zena Keda (25:01)

Right.

James Edwards (25:01)

We could talk about Boston. It's that to me, that's where it's. Offensively, this team is supposed to be a dynamite offensive team first and foremost with the pieces that they have. But it's a bunch of guys who are pretty much three and D wings. Joshua does a bunch of stuff by rebounding and pushing the pace and then obviously the star being Jalen. So I don't know, I just go back to the flaws of how the roster was put together and this is. It's just hard to win when you don't have a lot of guys who can break defenses down off the dribble and create advantages that way.

Dave DeFore (25:35)

It's really particularly tough to have a team that's supposed to be dynamite offensively and then they also look a step slow defensively and you know, they're getting blown by. They're not rotating quickly. All of this to say I want them to prove me wrong, but they're not championship contenders. That is, that's. To me, it's done. And I want to know with a team that had those expectations coming into this year, that had that for the majority of this year, they were the two seed. They were supposed to be the ones that get that home court advantage and prove everyone wrong. What now? What do you do with these last six games? What's the goal now for the Knicks?

James Edwards (26:16)

I think the goal first and foremost is whether it's they talk it out amongst themselves or they look in the mirror. Like they have to want to play for what you're talking about. Like, enough of the frustration with not getting enough shots or enough touches or letting it bleed into defense. Like you guys were put together for one thing, that's to win a championship. And I think at times still that there are instances in which the lack of individual ability to impact the game still bleeds into this group. And I think that's something that needs to be addressed. And I think it's something that happens often with this team throughout the season and then every few weeks, every few months, they have to have a reality check when something like this happens, right? Like they were 2 and 9 at the top of January over 11 games after winning the cup. They had to look in the mirror, then they played really good and then they lose again. I also am curious too. Like, so you mentioned they haven't beat a team with a winning record since March 6th in Denver. I wonder if, like playing seven bad teams in a row, which they struggled with, some of them ended up pulling away from some of them, but at different points. I wonder if it's almost a shock to the system when you go like, I'm not, it's the NBA. I don't want to be disrespectful, but it's very rare that a team gets seven games against that bad of teams.

Zena Keda (27:43)

Well, half the teams are tanking, right? Like, how do you stay game ready for the real games when you're playing the fake games along the way? This is another low key issue with tanking, right? Like, it's actually maybe messing up some good teams.

Dave DeFore (27:58)

Let me tell you this, let me tell you this. Women, the UConn women that play in the Big east, as they get to the tournament, they would say, we ain't got no problems with that.

James Edwards (28:08)

So yeah, that's a great point. And right. But. And it's harder to give the Knicks that, that let that, that, that that leeway because yeah, maybe it is a shock in the system when you're playing all these bad teams and it's like, here comes the almighty Hornets who have been playing ridiculous and then it's OKC and then it's Houston who defends their ass off. But it's not like they just like breeze through those seven bad games, right? They barely beat the Nets. They lost. They barely beat the, the depleted warriors. They were down 19 or 18 to the Utah Jazz before pulling away late. Like you could give them some, some, some leeway. If they had just ran through the competition during this and it's like, oh, I forgot what it was like to play. But they haven't, they didn't play well against the bad team. So again, I just, it's a, it's a team that I just think ultimately they have all the talent in the world. I just still wonder, like, I wondered when it was all put together if this group works together.

Zena Keda (29:02)

Yeah. And they still haven't locked up the three seed and I'm not convinced that they will with six games left to go. So I hope they prove an eye on that. Everybody go and read James at the Athletic again, one of America's best sports writers. Thank you to James Edwards for hanging out. Thanks to Cena CADA. I'm Dave DeFore. This has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us. Thanks for listening. Make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed it, drop a like, leave a rating or let us know in the comments. Thank you guys for waking up with us.

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