The Los Angeles Lakers had a rough night at the office (or bubble) on Wednesday. After clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a win against the Utah Jazz on Monday, the Lakers looked lifeless in their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, and got blown out 105-86.
On one hand, it was just a meaningless seeding game and the Lakers will likely look more inspired against the Houston Rockets on Thursday. On the other hand, there have been some concerning themes with the Lakers since the season restarted, and the playoffs start in four games.
On today’s episode of “ The Silver Screen & Roll Postgame Show,” our hosts Christian Rivas and Jacob Rude talked about some of the red flags they’ve seen through the first half of the Lakers’ seeding games, and whether or not they’re cause for concern.
For example, the starting lineup of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and JaVale McGee has posted a net rating of -30.1 in the 41 minutes they’ve played together. Is that a result of the team’s abysmal 3-point shooting, or does the five-man unit just not work as well as it did when Avery Bradley missed time earlier this season? If it’s the latter, should Frank Vogel consider making changes to the starting lineup before the playoffs start?
All of that, plus some questions from our followers, on today’s show.
You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
You can also follow Christian on Twitter at @RadRivas, and Jacob at @JacobRude.