Hello, Lakers Nation. Welcome into the Lakers Nation.com podcast. I'm Trevor Lane, and it's

game day. Lakers Rockets, 4 o'clock Pacific time today. Should be a great test for the purple and

gold. I can't wait. Let's give a quick shout out to our sponsor, Bet US. Right now, they've got the

odds on Lakers Rockets. Well, the Lakers, the underdog, but you know what?

That's okay. I don't mind being the underdog going into Houston, but a five point Rockets favorite here in this game. You know, I'm going to get into this matchup. I'm going to get into ways that I think that the Lakers can hurt the Rockets. I'm going to get into why I think this could be a tough outing for the Lakers or it could end up being, well, a really, really fun back and forth, defensive battle in this one. So I think the Lakers may have a bit of a surprise here for the odds makers. But minus five, the Houston Rockets, the favorites going into tonight's game. If you guys want to get in on it, you can check out Bet US. Got a great bonus going on right now, 150% sign up bonus using our promo code Lakers Nation. Again, go check out BetU.S. You can get in on that bonus. As I said, I'm going to get into the matchup. I'm going to get into the Rockets. I'm going to get into what all that looks like.

And also I'm going to finish off the show by going into the mailbag.

I got a lot of stuff to talk about there, particularly on the trade front, things of that nature.

But first, J.J. Reddick had a comment after the game, after the Lakers last game. And I thought

that it was an interesting way. He had a comment after the win over the

Hawks. And that was a win that, you know, it was a great win, no, it was a good win. I mean,

you'll take any win, right? But like the Hawks, they shot horribly from three. The Lakers made a ton of mistakes with their turnovers. So it very easily could have gone the other way. Like had the Hawks they shot horribly from three the Lakers made a ton of mistakes with their

turnovers so it very easily could have gone the other way like had the Hawks been hitting their

threes maybe that game does go the other way I thought the Lakers did enough to lose that game

but fortunately they were able to see it through and sometimes that happens over the course of

an NBA season but this is what JJ said after the win over the Hawks.

He said, I'm encouraged by our team in general.

I think the message that I relayed to them at halftime was the reason why that stuff

matters.

And he had been talking about, he'd been talking about just how the team, they didn't

execute in the first half.

He said specifically, he singled out Dorian Finney Smith and said he had an awful first half,

said he was great in the second half and he told him at halftime.

...