LeBron James tips in a game winner to beat the Pacers in the game of the night. Es Baraheni and Alex Hoops discuss the night of NBA basketball including the Lakers beating the Pacers, Jokic’s return, and more. Then the guys discuss the rookie class including who has been the best rookie this season, who deserves more ROY buzz, and which player will be the best in 5 seasons?Host: Es BaraheniWith: Alex HoopsExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moodyhttps://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened in the Lakers vs. Pacers game?
If you guys don't know, by the way, Alex Hoops on YouTube, over 100K subscribers. My guy breaks down basketball. Very, very fun guy to talk basketball with, Alex. Lakers Pacers is the main story here from last night. It was an awesome game. Very eventful day for LeBron James doing interviews, mind the game, potentially back, and now the game winner.
And Stephen A. Smith boxing match, apparently. Yes, apparently.
Celebrity boxing matches in the works, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wanted to get your opinion on this Lakers team, but just generally the end of the game for them, too, because it was... all over the place. This game in general was very back and forth. Lakers had a 17-point lead. Pacers ended up with an 11-point lead at some point. It was back and forth, and it was a really fun game.
But what was your thoughts on the finish?
It was funny in the fourth quarter because it seemed like The Pacers, you could tell the Pacers really wanted to win. Miles Turner was clamping up. His defense was fantastic. On offense, they were just really clicking at the right time. Everything was going right. Then the Lakers, it was like,
they put their foot on the gas and they went really hard for like two or three minutes in the fourth quarter. And then at one point it was like, they kind of just stopped playing defense and the Pacers got like, like six straight points at the rim, just like early offense driving past the front line. And then there was nobody in the paint. And I was like,
Come on, like the Lakers want to win or not? And then they pulled it out at the end there. But man, heartbreaking if you're a Pacers fan, that's for sure.
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Chapter 2: How did LeBron James perform in the game winner?
Yeah, no. So the craziness of it was, look, the Pacers didn't call a timeout when they had an opportunity to set something up, run a good play. That didn't happen. I believe it was either Aaron Neesmith or Ben Matherin who chucked up a shot. And it was a really great late double by LeBron to contest on that. Then the Lakers go the other way. Luca misses a floater for the win.
And then LeBron tips in the shot and it's just, you know, fingertips type of thing. By the way, LeBron James became the oldest player in NBA history to have a buzzer beating game winner. It's just, there's going to be multiple LeBron James stats with him being the oldest guy. It's going to be like Wilt, but for old players, you know what I mean?
It's Wilt records for AARP members.
Right. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah. The, the funny thing about this, this Lakers game, I thought to your point about them getting exposed a little bit defensively at the end there, their small ball lineup was awesome throughout this game. You know, it was plus 17 and five minutes for them with their lineup of, you know, Jared Vanderbilt, Dorian, Finney, Smith, Luca, Austin, LeBron, that lineup.
is something they're going to lean on a lot. But the drawback of it is some of these defensive lapses, you don't have that anchor, that paint protector, a guy who can basically contest shots around the basket. And so you only have one line of defense to work with. And so that's what Halliburton was doing. He had a really, really clutch shot in that fourth quarter to keep things close. Do you...
for this Lakers team believe that the way that they're constructed right now, they can make a deep playoff run given, given kind of the warts and everything we've seen over the last month or so with the Luca LeBron experiment.
So a couple of things with that, I think one, it kind of depends on your definition of like a deep playoff run, because there's like, You know, if they ran into OKC early, like first or second round, that's a tough sell for me. I'd be like, I don't know if that might be a bridge too far. But this team is not a team that I envisioned getting first-rounded.
Just based on the talent that they have at their disposal. Like, it's Luka and LeBron. Luca doesn't really seem to get first-rounded lately, recently in his career. And so, as far as the basketball of it all, I think what the Lakers have done... is they're not necessarily going to be the most perfectly constructed team. Like we said, they don't have a truly reliable defensive anchor.
They're doing like band-aids on bullet wounds with Jackson Hayes and doing like... They're getting by. But what's more important than that to me that the Lakers have done is they have given LeBron and Luka enough stuff that synergizes with their strengths that it's like... Yeah, this team is not constructed perfectly.
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Chapter 3: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Lakers' lineup?
They have the guys in those moments that you trust and rely on. And so you're right. I think they they have kind of like the good, the bad and the ugly with this. Like, actually, this game was really the definition of that because you saw them go through flows where their offense was clicking. They dropped five. 40 points in the second quarter.
And that was because LeBron and obviously LeBron actually didn't end up scoring a field goal until the fourth quarter. That was a, another subplot. His 10 point streak is alive, but the LeBron's playmaking Luca and Austin getting shots and being tough shot makers. All of that is a recipe to be a really good offensive team, but sometimes that gets bogged down in the tough shot making process.
Same thing with the defense. It exerts a lot of energy. And the way that they have to play, they have to play on a string. They have to communicate all the time. They have to be crisp on their rotations. And that is asking a lot. LeBron postgame even mentioned he's like, I need I need my energy for the defensive side of the ball more than more than the offensive side for this Lakers team.
We'll see what happens with with them on Indiana's perspective. How do you feel about them potentially making a deep playoff run? Because they've been playing really, really good basketball since 2025 started.
I think they're a team that's just... They're designed to punch other teams in the mouth and catch them off guard. Just their fast style of play and the... the high octane level that their offense can reach where they're just going to rain threes on you. And there's kind of nothing you can do about it. And then like, you also have Benedict Matherin who had some really great moments tonight.
I thought, obviously there was, there was a couple of moments here and there where like, he didn't get the call that he wanted and he kind of stayed back and didn't get back on defense and was just yelling at the ref. And it was like, all right, come on. He maybe should have gotten the foul, but yeah,
You got to get back when there's like three minutes left in the fourth quarter and you're down by two. It's like, come on. But we saw last... The Pacers have done enough for themselves. And I understand there were some external factors in their postseason run last year that they benefited from other teams, injury luck, stuff like that.
But they've proven enough with just like their level of play in that gear that they can switch to where... I think a lot of East teams are looking at them and saying, yeah, we probably don't want to play the Pacers because, yeah, we believe we can beat them, but we're going to be exhausted by the end of that series. Look at the Knicks and how many injuries happened over the course of that series.
It's like they wear you down regardless of if you may sweep them. The Boston Celtics swept them. But it was tough. It was the hardest four-game sweep they probably could have possibly had.
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Chapter 4: Can the Lakers make a deep playoff run?
The creativity is there in the half court. And the way that they move the ball, Indiana, it's just so it's like you're pulled in. a hundred different directions because of it. So I agree with you. I think Indiana is in a really good position in the playoffs to make some noise. Okay. The other big news from tonight was the fact that Nikola Jokic returned to basketball.
He missed five games, came back tonight and very, very casually, uh, Just had, you know, 39 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. Ended up having the most triple doubles in a season by a nugget with 30. By the way, that beat his own previous record of 29. So not a big deal there. Jokic looked great. I thought he was engaged. Looked great actively, too. Like he...
Span around one time, drove the ball and dunked. Anytime Jokic is dunking like that, you know he's feeling good. Had a crazy, potentially pass of the year type of pass to Aaron Gordon where he kind of flipped it behind his head while he was in the post, which was awesome. Jokic, back. Alex, how you feel?
The Nuggets are just... If Jokic is on the floor, and this is the other thing, is not even just when Jokic... is on the floor. Yeah. Like the bucks struggled tonight. They did with Jokic, not on the floor. And what I have written in my notes is if the nuggets can hold a 10 point lead against you without Jokic, your team's got some problems.
And I was watching, I think it was in the second quarter. It was the second or third quarter where the nuggets were up by 10 and Jokic wasn't on the floor. And the bucks like would score a bucket and, And then the nuggets would come right back and score a bucket. And it was like, you gotta be able to chip away a little bit.
No, no Giannis, no Dame. That should be mentioned for this box team dealing with some injuries right now. But yeah, look, that's definitely part of it. And I thought Christian Brown was great in this game too, especially in that third quarter had a massive run to flip it. Uh, Yeah, Nuggets pick up a big win here in that race for the two seed or like the two to five, which changes every single day.
Speaking of changes, the Suns about to lose to the Celtics very, very badly. It was a very tough game for them. And, you know, the Suns now in a position where they, you know, battling for that 10 seed in the Western Conference. On the seeding side of things, Knicks Clippers also a big game for the Clippers. They ended up winning in MSG. Clippers moved to sixth in the West.
Again, very temporarily. This stuff changes pretty quickly. Obviously, no Brunson or campaign for the Knicks. James Harden went off, though, had 16 points in the third quarter, 29 overall. OK, when we come back. Going to talk about the rookies. People think it's a disappointing rookie class. Alex and I beg to differ.
Not a lot of rave reviews for this 2024 rookie class, but there's still a lot of interesting talent here, a lot of players that you can look forward to watching. I think there's boatloads of skill, and I actually think it's pretty deep if you look at some of the players that are starting to produce for their respective teams. Want to start at the top, though, Alex.
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Chapter 5: What is the current state of the Pacers this season?
I, I think Castle will win it. Okay. That being said, the way the discussion is kind of framed right now, I feel as though people have kind of just overlooked Zachary research. I think he has done enough to warrant getting serious buzz in the conversation. Yeah.
Maybe not like just being outright the favorite, because I think the thing with castle is his contribution, being able to contribute as a rookie immediately is hard. It doesn't,
it doesn't happen especially in draft classes like this where there's not a ton of like super high-end talent where guys are being thrown into the fire and like hey you're our franchise guy go out there do everything castle was an impactful player from day one yeah um and you know wembie's been out for so long at this point that we kind of forget that the spurs were in the playoff race
until Wemby went out, they were, they were a top 10 seed. They were hanging right in there with the rest of those kind of six through 10 West teams. And Stefan Castle was a big part of that. And I think that absolutely has, has helped his case immensely. And I think if he were to win, he would be a completely deserving winner.
That being said, Zachary research since the start of the new year has been In terms of volume and efficiency, he has been the most, probably most impactful scoring rookie since the start of the new year. 50, 40, 75 shooting splits. Obviously, the free throw percentage is whatever, but 40% from three on 4.7 attempts a night.
The thing that really popped to me when I was diving into him a little bit is... He's not only averaging the most points or the third most points since January 1st among all rookies, but his points per touch is by far the highest of any rookie right now. People use the fact that he's not a ball handler. He's not a shot creator. They use that against him.
But in the context of this Hawks team, it's his strength. The fact that when he gets the ball, he's scoring it at a really efficient level. I've been super impressed with his play.
No, you're totally right. And honestly, he is the perfect type of wing to pair next to Trey Young because he, like you said, maximizes the possessions that he gets. I'm really intrigued with his versatility in ball screen actions because he can be your ball handler and you can have Trey Young as a screener. You can have other guys as screener being used for him.
Or he can be your screener, popping into the short roll, making plays through there. Obviously, he's shooting the ball really well as of late, too, which is a big part of kind of the progression here. But he also wins his minutes on defense. And so when you have that length and versatility, you just have the perfect type of player to pair next to Trey Young. And I agree.
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Chapter 6: How did Nikola Jokic perform in his return?
And it's very, very fluid because we're only a year into this draft class. Wanted to ask you, speaking on the fluidity of this draft class, if you were to project forward five years from now, who do you think you would take number one in this draft class?
Okay. So who I would take number one and who I think will be the best are two different answers. Give me, give me who you think. Okay, sure. Yeah, go for it. So I know this is controversial. If I am your average NBA team trying to contend in a vacuum. All right. I'm probably taking Zachary research.
Okay.
So that's your number one pick, right? I think the fact that Zachary Reese O'Shea went number one, I think that's totally reasonable. I understand there are other guys with higher upside, but the fact that his production is where it is at 19 years old and he's contributing... at a positive level already, I'm like, cool, I'll take that from a number one overall pick.
People are like, he might be like, he gets a lot of Michael Porter Jr. comps, he gets a lot of Klay Thompson comps. I'm like, if you get that with the number one overall pick, that's fine. That's totally fine. For 99% of NBA teams, that's totally fine. Now, best player, who I think will be the best. There is only one player that I have watched this year where I watch him
OK, first one caveat is probably Jared McCain. I think Jared McCain is going to be the best, but he's hurt. So I'm not going to include him. Yes, it's probably going to be him, though. He would run away with rookie of the year right now.
OK, aside from him, the only guy that I've watched this year where I've his play like gives me star vibes and he does like star things where I'm like, whoa, I can't believe you just did that on an NBA court against NBA defenders and like
are helping win games while doing this crazy stuff right dude it's modest buzellus wow yeah i love it just i am blown away by some of the stuff that he does and maybe part of it is like me longing for the g league ignite to have one good thing come out of it yeah and uh i mean i understand jonathan cominga is like technically you know he was still a good player but like
I just really want there to be a star from the G League Ignite emerge from the ashes. And maybe that's Modest Booz Ellis, but he... Like you said, I'm working on a video on him right now. And just... the willingness to try some of the stuff that he does, like the audacity to do some of the things that he does with the basketball. I'm like, you've got it.
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Chapter 7: Who are the standout rookies in the 2024 class?
I don't know if you're, it's like, it's kind of, um, Who is it for the jazz?
Like Collier or Filipowski?
Other guard. I can't think of his name. Oh, Keontae George. Keontae George. There you go. It's like Keontae George syndrome where I don't know if you'll ever be efficient, but holy cow, you've got the star gene. Right. Where you do star things, but the ball does not fall in the basket at a star rate. Yeah. That's kind of my thing with Booz Ellis. I'm like, the flashes are there.
He's doing the things. It's like, does the ball go in the hoop enough? And does he get enough opportunity to put it all together?
He has that it factor. If you remember, he was trash talking during the NBA draft. He was calling guys out one-on-one. The fact that he was like, I'm willing to be in the dunk contest. All of those things... make it feel like he has that a factor in terms of the superstar qualities that you're talking about here that he could dive into.
And then from a skillset perspective, like great cutter, a heady driver, obviously crazy athletic, The shooting is coming around. Obviously has all the tools to be a very good defender. The Bulls nailed this pick. I agree with you on that. The Bulls absolutely nailed this pick. And if he turns out the way that he's supposed to, could change things. Didn't get a chance to talk about my Raptors.
We'll talk about Jacoby Walter, Jonathan Lobo, Jamal Shedd, Jameson Battle at some point. I don't know. Mix these guys in for all rookie second team. There is actually a lot of talent. here in this 2024 draft class. And I think that's what I wanted to highlight. Just tons of guys who will have long NBA careers.
You think of like Zach Eady, Yves Misi, Bub Carrington, guys who even Quinton Post, who's playing really, really impactful basketball for the Warriors, right? Alex, appreciate you, man. Thank you very much for hopping onto the podcast. Very fun to talk about rookies. Guys, check out Alex Hoops on YouTube for sure. One of the best at breaking down some of these guys and their skills.
Folks, as always, thank you for watching and listening to the Athletic NBA Daily. Thank you for waking up with us. Hit us with a five-star review if you can. We will see you guys next time. Take care.
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