Podcast: Lakers win, Rockets whine, LeBron James and Brandon Ingram shine

The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off the sprint to the postseason in style Thursday night, coming back from a 19-point deficit against the Houston Rockets as Chris Paul and James Harden fouled out, and Mike D’Antoni picked up a late technical foul of his own. Combine that with the Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics losing, and last night was one of the better nights of the season.

Today’s podcasts enjoy the evening for what it was, and continued to look ahead to the playoff race that is to come.

The 30

In this episode, Jas is joined by Sportsnet 650 Anchor/Reporter Marcus Fitzgerald. They break down the Lakers’ big win, and Brandon Ingram’s big performance. Jas and Marcus then get into Magic Johnson’s comments about the team, and how he has handled the young players. The guys then wrap things up by looking at the Lakers’ playoff chances with just 24 games left to go.

Listen to the full conversation below and, for more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

Locked on Lakers

Shows following big wins like last night’s tend to be our most fun. That was certainly the case with today’s “Locked on Lakers.” Pete and I start by laughing at the ridiculousness that is the Houston freaking Rockets whining about officiating discussing what it means that the Lakers were able to fight back the way they did despite all the noise.

We won’t get too carried away as we did after the Lakers beat Boston before promptly losing two straight heading into the All-Star break, but the win was promising nonetheless.

We also discussed LeBron James ratcheting up to playoff intensity, and what that looked like. We saw flashes, but also saw enough to note that he either still isn’t 100 percent physically or doesn’t fully trust his body after having gone through the recovery he endured. It was enough to win last night, but the sooner he recovers physically and mentally, the better (groundbreaking analysis, I know).

The one concern we had from the game was how little the Lakers got from the center position. They’ll have to get more than 26 minutes from the two actual centers on the roster right now. Asking LeBron to play as much at the five as he did last night might be pushing things.

Finally, we heap credit onto Brandon Ingram for his huge game. Again, it’s not just the production, but also the way he was able to help the Lakers win. He’s really coming along.

Our full conversation can be listened to below, and make sure to subscribe on iTunes, where you can also leave questions in the form of a five-star review to guarantee your topic makes the show.