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Hello and welcome to the herd.

It's a lovely Thursday in sunny and warm Los Angeles.

Yep, we got the heat wave out here. Sorry to those of you dealing with cold March weather. We don't know what that's like. And it's not just the weather that's hot in L.A., it's the Lakers. Oh my goodness. Or as the kids like to say, OMG. Welcome to the herd. It's me, Jason McIntyre, in for vacationing Colin Cowherd.

He's now cut me off, won't talk to me because the Lakers are so hot, and he knows he's got to come back and do where Colin was wrong 17 times on the L.A. Lakers. I'm joined today by Rachel

Nichols. Listen, we had a spirited morning meeting, Rachel. I know you're fired up.

Obviously, NCAA tournament, but the Lakers are the big story. We got Yannis. Yonis, yeah, there's a lot going on right now. There is a lot happening. We're going to get to Yonis in a moment, but I need to start with the Lakers and their win last night over the Rockets. If they go to Houston this week, sweep the rockets with two

dominant fourth quarters. Monday, it was defensively. Okay? Remember the blitzing, the pressing of

Kevin Durant? Wednesday, it was offense. And it was a Luca Donchitz talking spicy. Did you hear him?

That's what I bleeping do to the crowd in Houston after just taking over.

Luca was sensational, as they say in soccer. Folks, I'm just telling you. I know people like to say,

oh, he's overweight. He's not dunking. Are you watching basketball? Why are we doubting this guy?

The highlight real from last night alone, the alley-oops, Aiton, Rui, LeBron, it was incredible. And the Lakers performance overall made three things. Look at this job. Look at he's making Jabari Smith dance. Poor guy. And then he's looking at the crowd saying, that's what I do. I'm just telling you, if you don't like the Don Luca, you got problems. This guy is one of the best shows in the league. And what he showed me last night in the Lakers,

three things are very obvious. Yes, number one, the Lakers are contenders, serious title contenders,

the round mound of rebound, who just last weekend was, oh, no way, they're not going to.

I think you've got to change your tune.

When you could take down New York, Minnesota, Denver, and sweep Houston on the road,

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