James Worthy x Robert Horry React To Lakers Game 2 vs Grizzlies | April 19, 2023

Lakers losing Memphis in series is now tied 1-1 as they head back to L.A. on Saturday night. Fellas, this felt like an opportunity lost. Lakers shot just 40 percent, made just 7 threes, shot 26 percent from beyond the arc. And bottom line, big game, I'll start with you. They just didn't match, in my eyes, the physicality and just the energy and the effort needed, especially at the start of this game and in that first half. Yeah, man, going from the worthy clap to the worthy slap. I don't know, man. From the very beginning, Geter, it did not seem like they were mentally into this game. You know, when you go into an arena and you win the first to two, subconsciously, sometimes you think you've achieved what you came to do. And that's how they came out tonight. Lackadaisical. No energy. They did not match Memphis' energy from the beginning. Tons of layups inside for Memphis. I really didn't think A.D. was aggressive enough in trying to, you know, make himself known in the paint. And this guy Tillman, who, you know, normally would just be a role player, comes in and has a career high. That's when you know that something's not right, when, you know, X-factor type guys come in and dominate. They just did not play smart. They didn't meet Memphis' force, and it was just unfortunate. They had a grand opportunity to take advantage of mismatches inside and didn't happen. I think that's kind of what you were saying while we were watching the game, right? You felt like this was an opportunity to win this game. You didn't think Memphis was playing that well. They were kind of letting the Lakers hang around, and the Lakers just didn't do what it takes. So what's at the top of your frustration list? For me, it's a little bit of everything. And I think hope is what I, when I watched this game, hope. You gave the Grizzlies hope in that first half. You let them score in the paint. You let guys who don't normally score, score. Because the only person was keeping the Grizzlies in the game was Bain and Tillman. Yeah. Dylan Brooks had an awful game until, you know, the fourth quarter. And for me, when you got your star on the bench and your other star, I'm calling Dylan Brooks a star, not shooting well, that is a golden opportunity for you to go out and put your foot on this Memphis throat. But they gave him hope. You saw Tillman smiling. He even knocked down a three. Hope is a powerful thing. Now you say, oh, I'm hope. And then hope turns into confidence that you can beat this team. They had the confidence. They didn't have no fear. When I say Grizzlies didn't have a fear, you didn't see them play out of character at all. Sometimes you can see guys playing frantic. They would play with poise. They'd play with pace because of that confidence of that first quarter and throughout that first half. And here's the thing. I mean, in a game where LeBron was one of the guys that had that energy and had it going tonight and was carrying a lot of the offensive load, D'Lo will then be off ball a lot more, James. And he has to find a way to impact the game, whether it's on the defensive end, getting a loose ball, whatever that is, that's playoff basketball. That's winning basketball. It's what you guys have talked a lot about. You both played with superstars. And you have to find ways to help this team win games. Lakers didn't do that tonight. The road players. I mean, D'Lo has said himself, you know, I'm happy to be back here. I want to prove that I belong here. And, you know, so I think when you say that, you got to back it up. You have to understand the importance of your role. And if Memphis is physical and playing you a certain way, you got to match that. You got to be aggressive. If your jump is not working, you got to find a way to get to the foul line. Defensively, you got to make yourself known, get some deflections or some steals or something. It just didn't seem like they were able to meet Memphis' force. And Memphis just kind of, they had their way with it. You know, for me, when you look at both the offensive end, I'm sitting here saying, what made Memphis Grizzlies so good offensively? Being technical. And what I mean by that is you watch the Memphis' screens. They go over and they set solid screens. There's no indecisiveness with their guard when it comes up. He comes off strong. We come off kind of like, okay, what are we going to do? If you watch the way they came off tonight, they came off and got into those pockets, and then AD had to help, which caused their bigs to get offensive rebound. So that's one of the things that I think the Lakers need to take a look at. When you're in a pick-and-roll situation, don't play with it. Come off hard and aggressive and be decisive, because that's going to make the defense react. It's going to give AD or whoever's sitting to pick a chance to roll. You got that pocket to hit, especially with D'Angelo. He's such a good free-throw line shooter when he comes off the pick. But he played too much and dribbled around. Come off and be in attack mode. I actually want to see more pick-and-rolls with D'Angelo and AD. Yes, be in attack mode, but don't play with it. Come off hard and be decisive on what you're going to do. I do want to talk about AD as well, guys. Just 13 points. I'm not sure we've had a playoff game where he struggled like this offensively, and the frustrations started early. His not getting calls. Sometimes early in the game when he's not getting a call, obvious calls. I think it's hard to play through that sometimes. You get a little frustrated. But that's when you got to pick up the pieces and demand the ball even more. Don't let non-calls take the game away from you. He's got to really continue that aggressive play. And I think he was trying to set picks around the top-of-the-key free-throw area and get the ball back. But we've seen AD. He's shown us what he can do when he catches and goes quick, when he gets deep in the post and takes advantage of it. I think he really was frustrated in the game tonight, not getting the calls. I just don't understand the mentality of how a player can play dominant most of the time, but then not bring it. But he's frustrated tonight. So do you see the frustrations because of the way they're defending him, not getting the calls, not getting the touches? Or is it him, maybe frustrated with himself? I look at the way he played tonight, and AD is a face-up big. But tonight they threw smalls at him, so he tried to overpower them. Like, no, still be a face-up big. Now you can see the defense coming at you. And then when you face him up, you see where he's at because he just shoots over the top of them. The guys that guard him are like 6'3", 6'4". You have a nice jump shot from there. But he's trying to go in. And referees, when you're a big going against a small, they're going to give the small the advantage. They're going to let them beat you up because they say, okay, you're a big. You should be able to handle that. And if you're not being aggressive, they're not going to help you. Exactly. And I think with AD, just play your game. Sometimes he tries to go into it. AD is not really a back-down center or back-down big. He's a face-up, uses skills to take one drill, spin back and do that. Tonight, he didn't really do that against the smalls. He tried to play roughhouse basketball, and that's not who he is. Yeah, he tried to back down and right into their hands. They came from the weak side, and they blocked at least two, maybe three of his shots up close. Let's be honest. Dylan Brooks is like a little fire hydrant. And those guys are strong. So it's hard to move those guys in the post. Yeah.