Thunder Just Broke the Lakers! — LeBron’s Passive Night Sparks Brutal Shannon Meltdown

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are staring at a terrifying truth. If they can't stop OKC's waves, protect the ball, and get superstar level fire from LeBron right now, this series could expose [music] everything Lakers fans fear most. The point is this.

[00:00:19]If you are LeBron James and you want to be beloved, that's a given because even though he's respected and loved here in LA, there's Kobe, there's Shaq, you know, there's people like there's different levels to this.

[00:00:33]That ain't that that's LeBron in Cleveland. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I mean, he he's deified there. You've got that going on.

[00:00:40]You got the opportunity to be in the Eastern Conference. You know you'd have an opportunity to compete for a championship because they can talk about the West all they want to and how highly competitive it is. You cannot look at the Lakers and view them as a team that can win a championship without the assets available, the draft capital, etc. You cannot look at the Lakers with Oklahoma City there, with San Antonio coming, okay? You know, Denver can never leave it. So, Minnesota, of course not.

[00:01:07]All right? You got to believe that Houston's going to be better cuz they're going to have a point guard next year.

[00:01:11]You cannot look at the Los Angeles Lakers and legitimately say they're [music] in that championship equation.

[00:01:19]How do we know this? Cuz we are on national TV saying that about them and they ain't in the East they they're in the Western Conference semi-finals.

[00:01:24]Because we all know how it's going to end. We know how it's going to end.

[00:01:26]Barring a catastrophic injury to a couple of players, I was disappointed in LeBron's play tonight, Joe. He wasn't aggressive at all. He was very content to just stand in the corner Yeah. and then try to get the ball at the nail and then try to do something. That's not going to cut it. Guy stole the ball from the had a guy on his backside. He let Lu Dort come over the top. That is That's That's unacceptable. Mhm. And the little flurry that he had in the fourth quarter, that's not enough. We needed that We need that assertiveness in the third quarter. Yeah. When Shai gets to the Hey, call the guy and say, "Look, this is where we try to get some separation. This is where we try to put some distance between us and them. Their best player is gone. And what do they do?

[00:02:03]Politely the team goes on a what? A 13-14-2 run. Yeah. I'm like, are you kidding me? Yeah. Are you kidding me?

[00:02:10]Nobody has the wherewithal. Everybody getting beat off the dribble. Then you come help, they kick it wide open threes. Now you go small, you can't keep Chet off the glass. But I was just disappointed in LeBron. And again, two rebounds.

[00:02:23]Remember last night, Joe? He had no rebounds. Yeah. None. With about 2 minutes left in the third quarter. Yeah.

[00:02:30]He got one and then one hit the floor and he just picked it up.

[00:02:33]>> [laughter] >> That ain't going to get it done. Yeah.

[00:02:35]That ain't going to get it done. We're going to look at this and say, well, he's shooting 50% from the floor. That's not good enough. Because, okay, when are those points coming? We needed those points a lot of We needed those points in the third quarter. Yeah.

[00:02:49]>> That's when you cuz this is the closest the Lakers have really been to them.

[00:02:52]Mhm. And then all of a sudden Shai goes to the bench, they step on the gas with basically their backups, and don't look back. They end up with a taillight.

[00:03:00]Yeah. Go ahead, Joe. And and and do what they're supposed to do. Whether the goddamn Thunder chose to go big or small, the the Lakers really never had the firepower to be able to to be able to hang with them. And they can't go score for score. Um you mentioned when when Shai went out, it's time for the Lakers to take advantage of those situations and kind of close the gap or or or try to close the gap to maybe maybe close the lead, but they still don't have enough. And then you try and you ask for LeBron to be able to sum this up, but again, LeBron is still that 41-year-old that you always talk about, right? So he can't I I think the thing is plus too many turnovers.

[00:03:42]Marcus Smart has been really careless with the ball. How many Let me ask you Think about this, Joe. How many illegal picks? There's not a game that's gone by that Jackson Hayes hadn't got a moving screen call.

[00:03:52]>> Yeah. Yeah. He gets one every game.

[00:03:54]Yeah. YOU HAVE TO BE STILL. YEAH.

[00:03:58]And he gets ONE EVERY GAME. SOMETIMES HE GETS TWO A GAME. I'm like, bro, you've been in the league far too long. And then you look at the ref like what? He's telling you you're moving. You have to be stationary. Yeah. Hey, um >> Lazy passes. And I'm like, are you kidding me? But listen I don't believe I don't believe, but I'm saying, all you can hope for is to get the game late in the fourth quarter with a chance to win.

[00:04:21]But when you down 14, you down 16 with 3 minutes to go against that team, you're not coming back. Yeah, man. But think about this too.

[00:04:28]>> back. And if somebody would have told me, say, "Hey, guess what?

[00:04:32]Shai's going to be only averaging 20 points. In game two, he's going to go out be out a large part of the game with foul trouble." I was like, "Well, Lakers got a great chance." At no point in time in the fourth quarter did you think the Lakers had a chance to beat this team?

[00:04:44]>> Mhm. No, sir. In either game one or two.

[00:04:46]No, sir. Hey, hey, they climbed back in it when they was down early by double by double digits. Hey, I I I agree with you, I think out of the 20 turnovers that the Lakers had, 15 of them came from your starters. Yes. And and and that's a recipe for disaster on the road, fellas. It's hard to beat a great team, especially a championship caliber team with 20 turnovers. You just can't do it.

[00:05:10]And then another thing, if if Bron is going to be kind of average like this, Mhm. then he needs AD to play well. You know, he ain't got to be great. AD ain't got to be great, but he He going to need He going to need to get you at least 15 points. You know, eight to 10 rebounds, just for y'all to stay in the game and compete. It's just too much cuz you don't get nothing from your bench. Lonnie Walker came in and gave you a little something, but for the most part, you're relying so much on your starters, bro, that it's it weighs heavy on them. And then once you do get in that fourth quarter and it's a tight game, man, y'all know OKC got another run in them. They got another run in them cuz they still fresh. One of the youngest teams, and they ain't bogging down one person down with a bunch of damn minutes. You know what I'm saying?

[00:05:50]You look at Chet. They ain't got no They don't got no answer for Chet. Okay, Ocha.

[00:05:55]They don't and I think the more and more he becomes aggressive and assert himself, the better off they going to be. He plays great off Shai understanding that damn every time Shai is in a pick and roll or whatnot, they trying to double team and keep the ball out of his hands. Hey, look, you can tell OKC practices. They goes over it because when that ball comes out, those other guys are ready to shoot or make a play. They just too deep, man. They They too deep. They still haven't missed a beat. When he goes out, they still haven't missed a beat. If they they continue to float. If I think if you take the Lakers, right, and you say they played perfect basketball, they didn't have any turnovers. They played well in transition offense and on defense. They still wouldn't win this game because they not getting enough from everybody else. Austin Reaves played well. LeBron did enough. Austin Smart looks like himself. Austin Smart. Austin Reaves looks like himself again.

[00:06:49]Yeah.

[00:06:50]But it it's just not enough. DeAndre Ayton, you got to come to the party.

[00:06:54]Three points.

[00:06:54]>> Got it. You You have an invitation to come to the party. Three points. He's up and down. You don't know what you going to get from Ayton. He right there at the rim. Why not dunk it? Why he try to lay the ball [laughter] up?

[00:07:04]BRO, I'M LIKE, BRO, YOU RIGHT THERE. YOU 7-FOOT ball tall and you trying to lay the ball up. THAT'S JOKIC. LET JOKIC lay the ball up. You dunk it.

[00:07:13]>> Yeah. He lays it up. He misses it. Gets it back again and misses it again. Yeah.

[00:07:19]Yeah, you can't >> you turn the ball First of all, the last thing you can do if you don't have a It's kind of like Ocha when you don't have a high-powered offense in football, the last thing you can do is turn the ball over because you don't have the weaponry to get back into the ball game. That is the Lakers problem because they don't have the offensive firepower, the last thing that you can do is turn the ball over. First of all, you can't turn it over. You don't have the firepower and you're not a good defensive team. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:48]>> So, you got THE THREE THINGS THAT YOU COULD ILL AFFORD TO BE AND THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE.

[00:07:52]THEY CAN'T STOP ANYBODY.

[00:07:54]I still don't understand a Ja Ja Mitchell. He's a left-handed guy.

[00:07:58]Mhm. He going to get to his left. I'll be damned if they're not playing on the damn right on his right shoulder. WHY?

[00:08:05]HE'S NOT RIGHT-HANDED. HE'S LEFT-HANDED.

[00:08:07]>> YEAH.

[00:08:08]HEY.

[00:08:08]>> If you notice people play James Harden, they get on his left shoulder.

[00:08:11]>> Yeah. I'm going to let you I'm going to make you beat me with your non-dominant hand. Mhm. Don't let him get to the left.

[00:08:19]Because most lefty players are more lefty dominant than right-handed players are right dominant. Yeah. You look at the guys that's been left-handed in this league. You look at a Zach Randolph. You look at Manu. You look at Marshall Yonas. You look at James Harden. You look at guys that have been left They really really really left-handed dominant. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:40]Yeah. And I don't know why the Lakers still don't And And And Ayton got the guy got the guy and guess what he does?

[00:08:46]Let him side step and go to the left and lay the ball up.

[00:08:49]That's why I'll be damned. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:51]They Hey, they come at you in waves, bro. It seemed like it's times where where it seemed like the Lakers kind of got it. Even if they got a two-point lead, four-point lead, man, you got you got your starters playing so many minutes on Ocho Day when it does come in the fourth quarter, 7 minutes under 7 minutes, they start making these bonehead plays, bro. Just lacklustre turnovers. I'm like, damn.

[00:09:14]And I know They just had one of those lows in the fourth quarter mainly toward the end Yes. to where you know, the separation kind of comes to where But, I do expect them to be a lot better at home, fellas. Yes.

[00:09:29]I think the thing is look, I I'm trying to think.

[00:09:32]AR or LeBron needs to go get as close to 40 as they possibly can.

[00:09:37]>> [laughter] >> And the next And the other guy if the one guy gets close to 40, the other guy got to be 28, 29, maybe even 30 with another guy in the low 20s. Hachi.

[00:09:49]So either that's Marcus Smart, that's Hachi, that's a Luke Kennard. Luke Kennard was shooting the ball extremely well tonight. I wish he could have got more minutes, but I understand. But see the thing is hard to play him, Joe.

[00:10:02]Because he can't defend He can't guard anybody. No. The hell, the people on the court can't guard nobody either.

[00:10:08]They're taught Look, if you if if it's AR if it's anybody Go at you.

[00:10:14]>> We're attacking. They're not going to attack Marcus Smart because what they doing they trapping They're trapping Shade to get the ball out of his hand.

[00:10:21]>> Right. Absolutely. But everybody else if THEY GET A ONE-ON-ONE OH, they trying to get down hill. Yes, sir. Immediately.

[00:10:28]It ain't no ain't no dancing and like hey No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm getting down a hill. Yeah. And it don't matter who it is. It could It could be No Shay.

[00:10:36]It could be Mitchell. Hell, it could be Isaiah Joe.

[00:10:40]It don't It could be >> Wallace, it could be Caruso, McCain.

[00:10:43]They just They just got too many guys, bro, who who play great in that system that that OKC has, bro. I I credit their coach and uh the in the system that they got. I mean, they they It's just going to be tough, man. I mean, that like like we always say OKC is a college town. You know, they have fanatics as fans. So it's hard to win in there with that sixth man. That crowd get into it. It's just too much.

[00:11:09]Lakers got to go home and find a way to get a win, period, point blank. Mhm.

[00:11:13]It's going to have to Oh.

[00:11:15]Hey, you see >> We've seen Austin Reaves have these type of Now, we know Austin Reaves can go He can go get 40. Oh, yeah.

[00:11:21]We just don't know if Bron at this ripe old age of 41 can still because in order to get that level of point, Jake Joe and Ocho, you got to sustain a fitness level. He's 41.

[00:11:34]You got to be able to sustain that.

[00:11:36]Guess what? You're going to have to attack.

[00:11:38]You have to get some foul shots. Three ball going to have to get going down.

[00:11:41]And you know what happens when you get tired, that ball start hitting the front of the rim. Yeah. And And it's just hard to take LeBron off the damn court. It seem like every time he go to the bench, bro, it's it's not a lot of good stuff that happens. You know, when he's out there because of his IQ for the game, not only does he continuously [snorts] putting pressure on the rim, but he's getting other guys involved, making plays, getting guys wide open shots. And that's what you need. I think uh AR got to someway, somehow stay aggressive and be efficient like he was tonight. I'm saying for them to win.

[00:12:16]And you got to have Marcus Smart.

[00:12:18]Obviously, he plays decent defensively, but he they need some good offensive output from him. You know, it's because if you bogging down your starters with all these minutes, damn, you you you got to hope they play great. And then again, Bron playing 37 minutes, probably averaging What he probably averaging minutes this this series? Probably >> around 33 33 33 and a half. Yeah. And I think with limited rest, fellas, it's just tough, man.

[00:12:45]>> Yeah, cuz they didn't have no 2 days now. Hell no. You you you you you don't got your big rest days before [laughter] game one. So, now it's every other day.

[00:12:52]You back at it. They back at it again on Saturday. They back at it again on Monday. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:57]>> So, you being >> able to get that level of rest. The thing is is that they Austin and Marcus got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball early. Because they spot He's spotting They are spotting OKC them points. They're going to get They're going to get that Don't give them no easy buckets.

[00:13:15]Don't give them an opportunity. And that's what they're doing right now cuz I thought Austin made some And the thing is they get out and run They get they they get they getting in in transition quick. Yeah. Cuz they young.

[00:13:26]Yes.

[00:13:26]>> They young. And they're very unselfish team.

[00:13:29]I mean, you watch them guys the way they celebrating. I like Jerry McCain. I thought he was well I thought he played well uh with the Sixers, but I understand the six situation when they got Maxi and they got Edcum. They's like, "Bro, we really Yeah, ain't got no room. Yeah, ain't got the room. And Paul, you know, Paul George is really a two. So, they's like, "I we really don't have any room." But, I thought he was shooting the ball well before he had that injury last year. Yeah, he was. He playing great. He gave them great minutes. I didn't even see that coming from him. I was I was surprised. Mhm.

[00:13:57]But, so so for OKC to make that to make that move and get him over there, I mean, man, he fits seamlessly coming off that bench playing in that system.

[00:14:06]He looked damn near unstoppable tonight.

[00:14:09]The And they I don't know what it is, Joe. He four or five for the three, but he they come in they come in there like the coaches instill so much confidence in them. He's like, "Son, if as long as you playing there's not a shot that I won't allow you to take."

[00:14:22]>> Yeah, right. And you can see you can see the way they play that they're they're not even bothered if I take this shot and miss it as opposed to as opposed to a uh guys on the Lakers bench. But, the guys on the Lakers bench, Wenyen Gabriel, he coming in there and he's like, "Bro." I'm like, "Wenyen Gabriel, I get it. You playing hard, son. You really He really trying, Joe. But, the mistakes that you're making, you can't keep making those mistakes. And that's what irks a coach. Yep. Is that you keep making the same mistakes. Yeah. Cuz either either you have a problem processing it or we're having a problem teaching it to you. One of the two. Now, which is it?

[00:15:01]Yeah.

[00:15:02]And that's why the leash going to be short. Leash going to be short. Yeah.

[00:15:06]>> like I say, man, when you take your best player off the floor and everything just starts to unravel on you, it's like, "Damn, okay. He didn't been sitting over here two, three minutes. Hey, we got to get you back in there, big fella." You know, that's just what it is because they don't have playmakers like that, bro. Like, it's so glaring that they're missing Luka in this series because you need a guy who can score. You need a guy who can play make for everybody. I mean, that's 33 damn points, man, that they're missing. So, Well, another eight assists. Yeah, we can't sit here and play crazy now and act like, you know, we're surprised how OKC is treating the Lakers right now. I mean, they're missing a big pivotal piece to their team. I mean, it's And it's showing in this round.

[00:15:48]And the thing is also, Joe, you can take LeBron off and you got Luka and AR. Yeah. You can take AR off and you got >> Luka and LeBron, yeah. You can take Luka off and you got AR and LeBron. Yeah. So, there's always a combination and you got two great ball handlers. Yeah. And plus, you got Marcus Smart. And you can take some of the ball handling off of Marcus Smart. Like, he can make some plays, but all things being equal, I'd rather have the ball in Luka, LeBron, or AR's hand.

[00:16:15]Yeah. I would like him to focus on defense. You're asking an awful lot of him. I need you to make plays, initiate the offense, but I also need you to keep Shai up under control. That's an awful lot. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:16:26]>> That's an awful lot. And then, playing that type of game mentally,