LeBron, Bryant, Pat Bev, Coach Ham x James Worthy Peace React To Lakers vs Blazers | Jan 22, 2023

Hello and welcome to AXSportsNet. Lakers driven by your Southern California Honda dealers, Chris McGee, Derek Fisher, Big Game James Worthy. Allie's going to join us in a little bit. By the way, Allie Clifton, down 20, called the victory. She was very optimistic. I, at the time, was not. The Lakers, after their worst second quarter in franchise history, Big Game James, saw them down by 25, their biggest comeback win of the year. They outscored the Blazers 75-41 in the second half, and they win up in Portland, where they have not won since December of 2019. That was good times. It's a miracle. It's a miracle tonight. Yeah, I mean, we were talking about, you know, them getting the lead down to 15, just chipping away at it, get it to 10, and they could, you know, possibly have a chance. And they did a great job with some help from Thomas Bryan and some role players. I'm sure there's some stats to look at there, but awesome comeback, great win, up in Portland. What was the key, Phish? I mean, there are a number of keys. I thought some of the adjustments we may not notice in the stat sheet is, I thought in the third quarter, there was a commitment to just face guard Damian Lillard wherever he was on the floor. Pat Bale took the challenge. Russ did a few possessions. I think also Dennis as well. And then, offensively for the Lakers, we talked about before game, making Damian Lillard work on defense. So they started using whoever Damian Lillard was guarding to set the screen roll on LeBron or on whoever was handling the ball. That put Lillard into defensive situations that he wasn't comfortable in. I thought those things happened. No turnovers. None. Dominated the points in the paint in the second half. I think it was 40 to 14 in the second half, and that ended up also being a big difference. We've talked at length a number of times over these past 20-something games without A.D. just how Thomas Bryan has come into his own. It's great to see him healthy and thriving and how he's making himself some money down the road and where he belongs on this team and his role. He's won games for the Lakers. Tonight, he was fantastic, guys. He tied his career high of 31 points. He was 12 of 15 from the field. He had four threes. He was also three for three from the free throw line. Check out the rebounds, too, D. Fish. 14 rebounds. Five of those offensive with those two put-back hammers that you will see in the highlights and also two blocks. So he did it on both ends of the floor. Remember, there was a stretch where Wenyon was getting a lot of those minutes defensively down the stretch, but it was Thomas Bryan tonight that they relied on. Nobody needs to draw up plays for you. You don't have to be a feature guy. You don't have to start. You don't have to play a certain amount of minutes. You just have to have positive impact on the game. That's what Thomas Bryant does almost every time he steps on the floor. It just goes to show you that how much is left after LeBron gets his, after, you know, potentially A.D., after the big boys get all their shots and calls. Look how much is left for other players to get. And Thomas Bryan is aware of that. He's aware where he's supposed to be. When Westbrook has the ball, LeBron, he puts himself in situations for offensive rebounds, and he just plays with effort and plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. You know, he, like Fish said, no plays called. He did try to draw Nurkic out early. We know he had a couple of threes early. That worked well for him. But other than that, just effort and, you know, like a scavenger in the fish tank. He just gets everything on the wall, gets everything that's full. You know what I mean? You know, I loved it. Halftime was after their worst second quarter, literally in the history of the franchise. And we've seen a lot of crazy things over the years of basketball. Sometimes I give you guys stats that blow you away. Big game, you were kind of speechless. And the word that Billy Mack used was disastrous. And you're like, I just can't really explain what we just saw. Well, here it is in front of you, big game, James, 13 points in second quarter. They scored 40 in the third, 29 percent, 62 in the third. They had three assists compared to seven. And big game, James, this is a big one. Seven turnovers, zero in the third, zero in the second half. They were minus 27 in threes in the second quarter alone. They were over seven. Portland hit nine. It's just one of those things that happens. Did a good job, chipped away. The defense picked up in the third. And they did what they're supposed to do, effort, Bryant, offensive rebounds, the defense. We talked about how they put Damien and the other players in defensive positions where they had to play some defense, took away from their offensive pressure. And they just did a great job in the third, turned it up. Yeah. And I think the way the game is played now, this is such, this is so symbolic of the amount of threes that teams take, the pace that these teams play at, 71 to 46 at the half. You just don't even know if there are enough possessions in the third and fourth quarter to make up that type of deficit. But because of the amount of threes, the long rebounds, the ability for a team like the Lakers, if you're not turning the basketball over, you're dominating the paint and you're forcing the other team to miss. You're going to get back in the game. And what to me was so wonderful about this stretch without Anthony Davis is they've experienced a lot. They played in close games, overtime games, come up on the short end, being able to break through and win some games, come back from down 25. They got a lot of things in the toolbox that, that when they see it later in the season, they'll be able to point to some of these games and say, you know what? We did it then. We did it then. We've been in this position before. And those are things that they can hopefully hang their hat on as they get to February, March and April. Be remiss if I didn't add this because I don't think I said it in the open. The Lakers were up by 14 early on in that game. So that turnaround was crazy in that first half. So even more credit to the Lakers. And you mentioned the rebounding 13 rebounds, they out rebounded Portland by 10 offensive. So some great stats right there and just kept getting after it. Like you said, they completely flipped at 75 41 in the second half, 1 21 to 1 12. The Lakers go to 22 and 25. They've now won two in a row. LeBron James with 37 on 14 to 24. Thomas Bryant ties his career high with 31 on 12 and 15 and Dennis with 24, 6 and 8. I love winning. Let's hear from Darvin Hammond. Speak with Mike Trudeau on the Jarvis. This ties for the second biggest deficit overcome in franchise history in a second half. And just wondered if you could sense anything energy wise in halftime or early in the third quarter once you actually got the guys out on the court that you saw turn the tide and kind of keep belief alive in that circumstance. Well, it's as simple as us having a conversation, not watching any film of what happened in the first half, just talking about how we started the game jumping out 18 and four of those first four or five minutes and then just basically falling apart on both sides of the ball. Um, and you know, we just challenged the team, you know, it's 24 minutes left. 25 points is a huge deficit, but in the NBA, three balls playing the right way, you can cut into it pretty quickly and give yourself a chance. And, you know, we just basically talking about what we've gone through all year, playing great basketball for segments of, of, of certain games and having tough four or five, six minute stretches here and there. And just once we see what we need to do to be successful, not just against Portland and hell of a team to hell three hell of five players for really, you know, but just for any team, you know, it's about us and how we want to present the best version of ourselves. And we just talked about that. Like how long are we going to keep watching the same movie of us playing great basketball and then having these rough stretches and not being able to maintain and sustain what we're doing. So, um, the guys, you know, like I said, those three words, competitiveness, togetherness, and last but not least, most importantly, accountability. And we all held ourselves accountable for what happened in the first, what transpired in the first half and came out with a focus, with a togetherness, with a competitiveness that, um, you know, resulted in us coming out with the W. Darwin, sometimes talking, just be talk. What did you see in the third quarter to let you know that that message resonated? What did you start to actually see the tide start to turn on the court? Well, the aggressiveness of Dennis and Pat, you know, setting the tone defensively on Dame and, and, and, and Simons and, um, you know, the way we were attacking the rim, you know, just not settling and putting pressure on them to defend their paint. And, you know, something that we've done well all year is just living the paint offensively. And, um, you know, you, you, you get a couple of layups, you get that, that, you know, in turn opens you up for, to get a couple of open threes and made threes and you get to the line. And so slowly, but surely you start to cut into that league and you just have to take it one possession at a time. You can't come out and just shoot all threes. Like you have to have a balanced attack all the while still getting stops. And, um, we shifted our focus to making them play inside the three-point line as well. So all of that just, you know, combined for us to really come out on top and, and, and, and really wipe out the deficit and, and, um, it's a hell of a performance, man. It just, again, our group has a lot of character, a lot of resilience, and that was on full display tonight. Darvin, um, you said it was simple as having a conversation. Um, was it like, is that a yelling situation? Is that calm talk? What was sort of the energy? No, I'm not going to be goofy about it. I'm not going to be abrasive about it. It's just a straight shooter state, uh, stating the facts. Like we've been going through this all year. I said, after, after seeing what we have to do, whether it's in a game, in film, we see how we can be and what we can be when we play the right way. Why do we allow ourselves to slip back over into this other side of, you know, bad offense, uh, no accountability on defense, uh, making everything an issue, except the opponent and, and, and being out competing our opponent. You know, it's not about the referees. It's not about touches. It's not about who's coming in and out of the game and win and how many minutes and all of that. We all got to band together. If we're going to close this deficit in the win loss column, we all got to band together and do it as a team, as a unit, you know, every staff member, every player. And so, um, that was the conversation, you know, in a nutshell, just how many times do we have to watch this movie before we start to change? And, uh, we can start right now. You guys talked a lot about stats. They're in that first block. How about this one? Gator check this out when it comes to that 25 point comeback, it's the third largest. Wow. Since 96 fish was on two of those teams. Oh, there you go. Fish. You guys broke down so well too, what it took. And by the way, I think it was the big, the Dallas one was that not the big fourth quarter come back once you down like 27 or something. That's kind of, I think right there, listening to Darvin, it was a different change to his tone. In a sense, we can sit here and have fun with, you know, the moment to come back, but he was very serious. And when we sit here and we talk about, you know, is it too early to look at standings? But then as he just put it, we can sit here and talk about standings and close the gap, but you got to also go out there and do it and be serious about what you're trying to accomplish. Obviously one of his major assets with this team is, you know, his communication with them. He's pretty straightforward. I'm pretty sure when he, when he has to be direct, he, he, he, he is. And the players have bought into it because you don't play the way they're playing unless you're buying into a system that you believe in. It really does come down to, you know, oftentimes like, you know, players just making a decision that this is what we want our team to be. And I am willing to do whatever it takes to be a part of that picture, that vision that we have for ourselves. And like you said, doesn't matter minutes touches who's in, who's out. If you really about winning, let me see it. Yeah. Stop talking about it. And whatever the conversation was at halftime, I think they were able to remind each other that that's the, that's the way they need to play in order to have a chance to win. And hopefully the second half, you know, as another example of when everybody does stay focused in the right things, team can be really successful. Great point. You know, who else is about winning and a positive light, Alison Clifton, take a bow. Thank you. Can you please say it louder? Allie Clifton. I'm right that I called it. You did. And it lives up to it. Thank you. At a time when we needed to hear it, I thought you might've been a little crazy at the time. We're right. Patrick Beverly scored four points and led the Lakers in plus minus with a plus 27. He's speaking with Mike and the media padded. You've been in the NBA a long time. You don't see a 25 point halftime deficit overcome too often. I just wonder what you felt like the message was from whoever it was in halftime and how you guys were able to, to execute and chip away until you just kind of took over. Uh, not just, you know, I came at halftime and told the guys, you know, just turn our swag up, you know, understand, understand that we're fortunate to play a game that, um, uh, give us stability. We're able to take our, our families, you know, we're able to live a lifestyle that a fortunate lifestyle, you know, and a lot of people dream about. So, you know, regardless of what's going on, have fun message. And, uh, we came out and responded. It did seem like you, you had a, the kind of a constant dialogue with Dame throughout you end up tonight being the plus 27 day has a slow shooting night. What, what were you looking at? He would have cooked me. You would have said he had, I couldn't guard him, but now he missed a couple of shots as a slow shooting night. I understand. I said you were plus 27. No, right. They say I did a good job on Dame. That's how I'm better. Well, I was going to, I was going to ask the question, let you answer it. I just answered it. Next question. Any more on just the, the matchup? No, always good to see Dame, uh, hell of a, hell of a, hell of a point guard in this league. Um, you know, his ability to shoot it, you know, from the logo, uh, puts pressure on your defense. Uh, you know, I think it was a team effort tonight. Uh, it was, it wasn't my man. Darwin said, obviously there's a lot of elements to the comeback, but he said that the on-ball defense from you and Dennis on their backcourt was kind of the first thing that he saw after the halftime that gave him an indication that it wouldn't just be talk that you guys would back it up. Um, what was your mindset, uh, as you took the court in the third? I mean, the same mindset about, you know, I started every game with every quarter with any time I'm in the game, uh, impact winning, um, fortunate to do it today, get some stops. Uh, you know, you get stops as hard to kind of load up on Bron is good at, you know, we got Bron in transition, hit some thirties, uh, loosen up the deal a little bit. Um, then this was some early drafts, you know, we got, we got a lot in transition. So, uh, they helped our offense. Pat, this team has been through some, some wild stuff this year, some really wild swings, you know, losing streaks, a recent winning streak. How do you think that stuff has sort of prepared this group for moments like tonight? And then I guess, what does this give you more belief, big picture as to what this team's capable? Uh, I mean, you know, me, I just, I think the NBA is a long season, you know, you know, it's always predicated on, you know, the most conditioning team coming into training camp will always start as well. They even off, you know, the vets come kind of get catch their eggs, you know, 2025 games in, you know, they went some games, you know, so it's so competitive in this league, you know, um, you know, you can win any game, you can beat good teams, you can lose anybody any night. Um, I believe that, uh, you know, our early tests, our early injuries, um, that's prepared us for a lot, you know, going into the, I don't know, um, post season going into, you know, the down stretch of the season. So, uh, you know, any, any, any adversity you, you, you're fortunate with. And, uh, you know, for me and my teammates, you know, you appreciate adversity, you know, uh, it helps you get through the tough times. Pat, um, it really seems like no matter what the score is, you really stay aggressive, especially, and especially with your talking, um, and, and staying in, you know, whoever my play also with your play also, but even in, although this is a league of confident players, there might not be a lot of players who, who kind of talk the way you talk when you're down big. I don't know what that means. I don't talk on her. Do you talk trash? Do you not? Yeah. But I don't talk when we down, when we're down big, you were, you were talking to Dame when you were down 17. Yeah. I, all I'm asking is what's the mentality. What, what do you think makes you one of those people that feels like no matter what the score is, I'm going to play my way aggressively and, and talk my game aggressively. Uh, I like to feel like I bagged my game up. Not only just talking, um, my life was predicated through adversity. You know, I understand it all. You know, I played in every league in the world. Um, I'm gonna leave it all on the court. Um, you know, I'm gonna let my, you know, my history with basketball, you know, the places I've been, the success I've had over, I don't know, a decade and a half. Um, you know, and I'm gonna leave that on the court, obviously, you know, when you're in battle, uh, friendly, you know, chatter, friendly, bittering is always, uh, is always there. But, uh, you know, it's nothing out of context to what I provide for a team on a basketball court, instead of, uh, you know, my skill and instead of me, just, I don't know what you said. I was just talking. He doesn't matter who it is part of his game. You know, sometimes when you, when you talk like that, you know, you have to pay for it. You gotta be careful. That's Dame. He's talking to, you know, but Hey, his, his, what he does in a game is like, it's not on the stat sheet. He, he's just one of those players that, you know, he, he puts his print on the game with his defensive toughness. Uh, you know, he does disrupt a lot of players, uh, with his, with his, with his verbal language sometime, but that's just who, that's who just Pat Beverly is, man. That's who he is. That's who he is. LeBron James chasing history started with two 60 left 223 points to tie cap Kareem Abdul Jabbar. LeBron is now speaking with Mike in the media. Well, LeBron, I don't mean this literally to question your memory, but like the 25 point halftime deficit, you know, are you, as you go into the archives, are there a game or two that you think of and that had any commonalities between you guys being able to erase something that was that large? Like tonight? Uh, I don't know. Um, I think the first game that could come to my mind, I don't know how many points we were down, but, um, we were in a playoff series back in Cleveland. My second stint playing against Indiana on the road. And, uh, and we made a huge comeback in a, in a post-season game, uh, to cap that game up. I don't know if it was game three or game four, um, you know, in that series, but, um, you know, tonight was literally a tale of two abs. I mean, obviously we came out and played exceptionally well in the first quarter. Then they jumped on us and completely just, you know, knocked us down, you know, and, um, uh, thank God for the standing eight count, you know, he was able to, you know, to stay in the standabout and, uh, and then, uh, you know, turn the game around the second half. Jarvin had mentioned the ball pressure from Dennis and from Pat and the perimeter. And in your case, it seemed like just able to keep getting to the rim. I think you were nine to 10 in the paint at one point, a lot of coming to the third. Was that, was your mindset, any more gear towards that? Or was that just what was coming off the stops? Well, I mean, when you're down, you try to play a little bit more desperate, you try to see, you know, how much you got left in the tank and try to, you know, push the envelope a little bit more. So like you just said, it started with Dennis and Pat, just getting up into, you know, um, Damon and Anthony and, you know, and then it's the back lines, um, you know, job to communicate through them. Cause they get a lot of picking roles, a lot of flare screens, things of that nature. So, you know, time is weighing myself and the rest of the guys, Troy, everybody that was on the floor, just trying to communicate to those guys off picking roles or whatever the case may be, ISOs. And even when we got switches, we was able to, um, and just trying to keep a, you know, a hand up on those guys. Cause they're, you know, you know, obviously Damon, we know how great he is. And Anthony is definitely a shiny star in his league. So just trying to make it tough on them. And, um, in the second half was able to do that. LeBron, obviously when you fall down 25, the first half guys are going to discuss what's going on in the halftime locker room. And Darwin said that he felt like his message was like, we don't want to keep watching the same movie. Uh, how did you guys as a group, not just have a B talk tonight and then, you know, actually go out and do the things that you were discussing? Uh, I mean, just, I guess it's only, there's one or two ways you can either go out and you could just lay down and get ready for the next game where you can see what can happen in the quarter, make a game of it. And, uh, you know, for us as competitors and our team and our makeup this year, uh, we're not a lay down team. It's just, it's just not the makeup of our club. Um, so, uh, we came out and, and they showed the makeup of our club in the third quarters, gave myself a chance to go into the fourth and turn it into a, you know, a few possession game into a couple of possession game. And one possession game was able to take the lead. I believe on, uh, that Thomas three on the left wing finally took the lead. Yep. Yep. Yeah. So, you know, after that, we just started trying to get some stops and keep building a lead up, you know, from one to three to five or whatever the case may be all the way up into seven. Um, when teams fight back like that, so often, like they expend so much energy that like when it gets tight, things kind of fall apart. Um, this is two games in a row where you guys are pretty good in crunch time. Um, what, what have you seen execution wise lately, um, from, from this team down the stretch? And is that encouraging sort of big picture knowing that you guys have been through and made so many mistakes that you're kind of learning? Yeah. Yeah. We've been through it a lot. Um, and, you know, we just want to try to continue to keep improving, um, you know, throughout, you know, late games and, you know, one possession games, two possession games going down late. And, um, tonight we did a good job of being able to execute, um, you know, defensively and offensively, you know, getting the best shots that we can. And even when we got, you know, one of the good looks that we didn't go in, you know, Thomas was cleaning glass and was able to get us extra possessions or second chance points. So that was huge for us. LeBron, of the aspects of your game that have kept up over two decades, how much pride do you have in your ability to still be able to get to the rim? Like Mike was saying, I mean, you were, you get into the room in third quarter, I think all six year baskets in the restricted area. How much pride do you have in that? Um, I'm just an efficient guy. I've always taken pride in being efficient on the floor. Um, you know, I'm also able to score at all three levels on the floor. So if it's a, if it's a point in the game where one is not working, I can, I can go to the next or, um, always keep the defense at bay. So, um, I had the three ball working earlier in the game, third quarter, um, wasn't going, I was able to get into the paint. Um, I was able to get to the free throw line. Um, I started getting my, you know, my mid range going as well. So, um, I'm just always trying to keep the defense off balance, you know, with my play and, you know, the rim was, uh, you know, very key for us because we were just trying to put more pressure on, you know, not only defensively, but offensively as well. And, you know, um, the rim attacks definitely starts with me, especially in that starting lineup. LeBron, while, you know, keeping the main thing, the main thing, as you say, we've been hearing some additionally or positive reports about AD. Darvin just says he kind of, you know, clearing one hurdle, non-contact and then contact and waiting the next day. What is your mind been there and kind of thinking what he would bring back to you while still, since when he's not actually out there yet, you know, focusing on the games at hand. I'm like, I don't want to, I don't want to get too excited. Uh, cause I just know what he brings to our ball club. So, you know, I am until, um, I want him to just take as much time as he needs. And when he's ready, when he feels like he's ready to put on a uniform and I see him run out with us, then I'll get excited again. Um, but right now I'm, I'm locked in on, on, you know, getting this ball club and put them in a position that'd be successful every night. Um, you know, and we all, we all can't wait for AD to get back obviously, but you know, whenever that moment is, we'd be super excited. Um, but I'm, I'm locked in right now on what I need to do personally and for this ball club. So, uh, you'll see the same for me, no matter what. I know you're happy about TV being in there. No, I am. Yeah. Yeah. Thomas Brian tied his career high with 31 points, nine of them coming in the fourth. He's speaking with the media in Portland. You know, you, you had a, during that five game winning streak, you were such a powerful presence in the paint. Then I think, you know, last couple of games, um, you know, there were, there were some other guys who kind of stepped up. What did you go into this game kind of thinking in terms of how you want to contribute? And, um, you know, that second half, what do you think changed about the team dynamic? Uh, I think in the second half would change was just our demeanor. Uh, we all talked about it at halftime. We knew that second quarter got away from us. We wanted to give a better push in the second half, no matter what happened, you know, down by whatever, uh, by whatever we have to come out with that same mentality that we did the second half and the first half. And for me personally, I just wanted to be available for my teammates. You know, I know my teammates have a lot of confidence in me, you know, to make the right decisions, make some shots out there and I'm, you know, I gotta give it to them. Those guys really put me in a great position and, you know, I was trying to be aggressive out there and, you know, take whatever they gave me out there. And luckily it went my way. Thomas, as much as you can share, what was that halftime atmosphere like, and what were the words that resonated? You know, it was, it was quiet at first, but then, you know, all of us got around together. We try to figure out, we all were talking communication and I think that's what really changed with the second half for us. You know, all of us were communicating, seeing what we saw, saying what we saw, you know, and giving each other each ideas about what we can do to get better out there. And I think that's a great thing when you have teammates in the locker room that, you know, take constructive criticism in the right way. You know, whether it's me or anybody else out there, you know, we, we responded well and Pat Bev was really a go-to guy that gave us the energy and the resiliency that we needed out there. Thomas, two questions. One, you said the second quarter got away from you guys. Where, where did you feel that slippage most? And I guess in crunch time down the stretch, you guys have been through now a bunch of wild stuff this season. Do you feel like those lessons are starting to kind of build up and help you guys navigate some of this? Absolutely. I feel like those lessons are really, really helping us in the long run. You know, there's been a lot of games where we were close by and we lost some in a lot of games that we, that we were close and we won some, but we want to get on the winning side more often than the losing side. And what was your first question? I'm sorry. About the second quarter where it got away from you guys. Second quarter, I think it was our communication. You know, we let some easy buckets get away from us and, you know, our defensive rotations weren't as quick as they were in the second, in the second half. So that was our really go-to thing of what we communicated about. Thomas, I was looking at your stats throughout the third quarter and it was almost no miss. A hundred percent from three to remind me of a game you had with the Wizards. I think it was a perfect game. Does it feel, does these games feel different? Yeah, this one does feel different because, you know, when we're on the road, but in a hostile environment, it's a great team. But really, I didn't even really think of that right there. You know, for me, it's just like, I can't think about the past. I have to keep looking at the future. But it's funny that you brought that up. Yeah. I didn't even realize that till now. And that's funny because I didn't realize that either until I was done with the game. But, you know, it was a fun game out there. You know, I got some, I got some buckets to go in for me that I've been wanting to get in for a while. So I'm happy of that.